the shield of nature
by Mercavez
Summary: the world can be a cruel place, and in war time even more so. follow one Gardevoir and mercenary as they attempt to navigate this world without hope and find their place in the world.
1. the beginning

In a world of amazing monsters and even more fantastical technology, one hopes humanity can lift themselves up from petty squabbling and live in a world of peace. Unfortunately humanity isn't so refined as to lead towards a world without want. No matter how civilized we wish to paint ourselves as... our inner darkness will always manifest itself in the most horrid of ways.

A large underground stadium of fans cheered as two houndooms clawed and bit at each other in a small bloodied pit. The two fire types fought desperately, knowing full well that whoever lost would not be returning to their masters. The houndooms continued this dance as a fat man sat happily in a luxury box.

"I have a drink in hand, im sitting in my favorite chair, and I'm about to make another ten thousand poke-yen!" the fat man blurted out laughing. "This is the life!"

One of his bodyguards that had been standing behind him looked over to his partner and then to the man in the chair.

"Excuse me sir." One of the bodyguards cautiously asked. "How are you so certain you will win this match?"

"because boy, I never bet on anything that isn't a sure thing." The fat man smiled.

The bulky man pulled out a small rectangular device with only one button. He pressed down on the button with his pudgy finger. Immediately one of the houndooms roared and launched into a berserk rage, ignoring all pain the houndoom launched itself at its enemies neck. In one swift motion the pokemons neck snapped, ending its struggle. Half the crowd roared in anger as the other half cheered to their victory.

"Ya see that boy? Always bet on a sure thing!" The beefy man began to laugh hysterically.

As the houndoom gave another roar before launching flames in every direction. The crowd began to roar again as a mightyena was introduced to the ring. Quickly turning to the new challenger the houndoom barked madly.

"What? Who the hell imported a mightyena into johto just for a cage fight?" The overweight man asked aloud. "Well it won't matter, no Pokemon can withstand the flames of one of my expertly trained, and highly doped houndoom."

The two dog pokemon stared each other down, the fire type barking with a hoarse throat, the pure dark mightyena staring with a calm focus. Finally the Pokemon launched themselves at each other. As the two Pokemon began their fatal dance, another dark hooded figure snuck its way through the dark dirty stadium shifting through the crowd of scum and poverty as he made his way towards the luxury box that held the heavy set man.

The mightyena proved to be far more experienced than anyone originally expected. Clawing and biting before retreating to safety. Slowly the houndoom began to get tired and enraged. Finally the houndoom had enough and unleashed a torrent of flames at the mightyena. Narrowly dodging the flames the mightyena launched itself and rammed right into the houndoom sending it flying into the stone walls. The houndoom struggled to stand on its feet, looking like it was barely keeping conscious.

"Alright this match has gone on long enough," the bulky man said pulling out his remote and pressing the button. "This'll teach those hot shots for thinking they can beat me!."

Another rush of drugs began pumping its way into the houndoom via the collar on its neck enraging the pokemon further. The hellhound launched itself into the walls and spat fire in random directions furiously fighting to hold its mind together. The mightyena took hold of the opportunity as it expertly closed in before closing its jaws around the poor pokemons neck. With a swift twist, the houndoom went limp, a thankful expression dawning on its face.

"What in the hell was that!" The fat man roared repeatedly throwing objects at the window, cracking it repeatedly.

"When I get my hands on the engineer who sold me that collar im going to crush the life out of his throat! I want you two to-" the man was cut off at the sight of his bodyguards lying motionless on the ground, standing behind them was a hooded man dressed in black.

"I know what you are" the pudgy man said calmly "look, just tell me how much they're paying you you and i'll double it"

The hooded figure continued to approach, waist cape swishing from side to side under the point of the large claymore at his back

"Okay fine you drive a hard bargain, ill triple it!" The heavy set man said now back to the glass wall now worried.

The hooded man drew a revolver, lifting the barrel to the man's chin before saying a single word.

"Surrender" the armed man said sternly.

Suddenly the big man smiled "you're making a big mistake, put the gun down and you can still walk away"

However the armed man said nothing, stoic in the face of the threat

"Fine!" The pudgy man spat " but i gave you a chance!"

As soon as he finished his sentence the entire room was flooded by thugs armed with muskets all pointed at the hooded man.

"Bounty hunter! Drop your weapon and put your hands in the air!" One of the lead thugs yelled sternly.

"You better do what they say boy" the big man smiled mockingly.

The bounty hunter weighed his options, looking around seeing no clear exit.

"There is no place to run bounty hunter! Surrender or die!" The thugs threatened.

Finally the bounty hunter settled on his next course of action. Quickly grabbing the overweight man by the collar the bounty hunter put the barrel of his firearm to his now hostages head. The thugs flinched not knowing what to do, they looked around at each other. Without ceremony the bounty hunter launched both himself and the fat man through the glass of the luxury box. They flew a short distance before rolling over the bloodthirsty crowd and into the fighting ring. The fat man hurriedly got up grabbing his damaged arm and turning to face the houndoom and mightyena.

"Kill that mercenary!" The heavy man weazed, pointing at the bounty hunter who just got to his feet "kill him! He's a snitch!"

The mightyena walked to the hunter, taking a battle stance to protect him.

"That thing was yours?" The pudgy man said annoyed. I'll teach you to try and come after me! No one comes after me in my own turf!"

Suddenly 5 hatches opened up underneath the arena, releasing snarling houndooms, ready to kill.

"The grand prize plus ten percent to whoever's dog fetches me that hunters head!" The fat man blurted out while limping away,

Both the mercenary and mightyena now found themselves surrounded by houndoom and the roaring cheers of the crowd.

"This isn't how the plan was supposed to go." The mercenary said aloud, positioning himself ready for a fight. "Hardly anything ever goes to plan anyways"

The mightyena snarled, licking the blood off its muzzle. Suddenly every houndoom launched themselves towards the duo at once hardly giving them any time to react. The hooded mercenary jumped back dodging the houndooms charge and lept towards his fallen revolver. The mightyena had charged forwards dodging the houndooms trying to make its way to apprehend the limping Fatman.

The entire crowd exploded with excitement as new bets were placed on the life of the bounty hunter as he frantically tried to dodge out of the way of the furious group of pokemon. Quickly the bounty hunter threw down a small can that exploded in a bright flash of light. The houndoom yelped as they were blinded by the sudden flash. Quickly to get advantage of the opportunity, the bounty hunter threw down two pokeballs summoning a crobat and a raticate.

"Cover Lucifer's advance!" With those few words the two Pokemon followed their trainer's instructions.

Lucifer zigzagged back and forth dodging the houndoom that launched themselves at him. The crobat quickly flew in and released a terrible screeching noise, confusing nearby houndoom. The raticate took the opportunity tackle as many as he could to take as much attention as possible away from the mightyena. As the fat man reached for the walls stone ladder all hopes of escape where drained as he felt one of the houndooms sink its teeth into his legs. Before he could cry out in pain two more houndoom's tore into his throat, ripping apart his ability to scream. Within a few seconds all the houndooms tore into the man in Mass as the crowd cheered.

Lucifer recoiled as he witnessed the houndoom rip apart their own master in a confused rage, doing the mightyenas job for him.

"Not exactly what I had planned" The mercenary said to himself. "But a kill is a kill I suppose"

As the houndooms chomped on their calorie rich meal the mercenary recalled his Pokemon and made a swift dash out of the dug in pit and out to an exit.

"Right, so the starved houndooms tore apart Jones because of your Pokemons sonic attack?" An old lady behind a bar said while setting down a mug.

"Yup" the Mercenary said simply as he began to down the beverage.

The old barmaid rolled her eyes before speaking again. "Grey, how do I know they didn't just tear him apart because he fell into the pit?"

"But who put him there?" Grey responded quickly

The barmaid rolled her eyes as she set down a small purse on the table "If you weren't so good at making people disappear I'd have you disappear, Grey."

Grey set his drink down and picked up his payment. He weighed the bag in his hands and recoiled a bit.

"Feels a little light, you're not short changing me are you Danna?"

"Sorry Grey that's all that fat pig was worth, all the big targets are gone. Ever since those damned alliance soldiers rolled on in, The militaries been cracking down harder on crime. Devaluing the work of private contractors" Danna explained

"I'm going to have to start smuggling again if this keeps up" Grey said staring at the bottom of his mug.

"Oh sugar, maybe this is a sign, you have enough pokeyen to live in relative comfort. Why not buy some land, find yourself a dame and settle down?"

"You know I'm no farmer Danna" Grey scoffed.

"Oh stop that, you know I'm only thinking of what's best for you" said Danna

Grey sighed as he looked around the room. The entire bar was full of men toasting and yelling tall tales of war. Grey looked to the bulletin board behind the counter where he usually got his contracts. One contract stood out to him, a shimmering golden stamp had been plastered to the bottom of one of the flyers.

"Hey Danna, what's with the official looking flyer?" Grey said pointing to the board.

"Oh this?" Danna said grabbing the paper "this is just some suicide job some Dapper looking people left here earlier this morning, here, take a look"

Grey took the paper and began to examine it.

The alliance government has formally put out a bounty for the retrieval of The entity known as "The Shield". The Shield is currently being kept in the town of Little route in Hoenn, any private contractors who can retrieve and deliver the shield will be paid in the total amount of 50 million Pokeyen. Please see your nearest alliance politician for details.

Grey nearly fell off his stool upon finishing reading the poster.

"Fifty million yen? This could make me rich for life!" Grey said full of excitement.

"Oh no, don't tell me you're going to try that stupid contract? you'll come back in a body bag!" Danna warned. "Besides that contracts in Hoenn, that entire region is one giant warzone."

"When's the first ship bound for Hoenn leaving?" Grey asked absentmindedly

"Why am I not surprised?" Danna said disappointed "if you're serious about this then I won't stop you, just make sure you know what you're doing."

"Don't worry about me Danna, I can take care of myself."

The old barmaid gave a worried sigh before disappearing into the bars kitchen. A few moments later she came back out with a plastic bag and a letter.

"There's a missionary ship headed to Hoenn tomorrow on some self righteous mission to deliver relief supplies to the people. One of those religious guys came in here the other day and ended up piss drunk. Suffice to say that he ended up leaving here completely robbed of everything, including these robes. He may be gone but you could probably make your way aboard."

Grey took the robes and looked them over, the robes were completely white save for a golden cross and circle on the forehead of the hood, the symbol of Arceus. Grey dropped the bag of coins he was previously given into the barmaids hand before taking his newly acquired equipment.

"Make sure you don't die, no one else is stupid enough to take my jobs." Danna called out. Grey simply gave a half hearted wave of his hand without looking back before he headed out the door.

"dumbass" Danna scoffed as she went back to clean the counter.

A few moments later, Grey had slipped into the white robes as he shoved his items into a large satchel. Grey looked over his disguise one last time, it was a little large on him but it would suffice for the short time he needed it. Slightly adjusting the sword underneath the robe he pulled up the hood and clasped his hands in prayer before walking to the air docks. Following the directions on the letter he made his way to the airship that would take him to his destination.

A few days later….

A loud bang jolted Grey awake as he instinctively reached for his revolver only to be met with cloth. More bangs and screams could be heard outside, the sounds of battle Grey knew all too well. Annoyed, the Mercenary tore off the robes and grabbed his black hooded armour he had been hiding in the ships crew quarters. Rolling his shoulders his leather pauldrons adjusted once more as he tightened his metal bracers and quickly marched out the door, metal boots pounding at the floor.

Upon stepping outside the Mercenary was met by the sight of Hoenn insurgents brawling with deckhands raiding the ship for it's supplies. Before Grey could react he was swiftly struck by a musket butt. Grey was knocked to the floor but quickly started to back away as his attacker continued to charge. The Rebel attempted to skewer the Mercenary but was met with wood as Grey quickly rolled to his side. Before the Rebel could pull his musket back he was met with a swift boot to the face. Not wasting any time, the Mercenary grabbed the musket and rammed the bayonet straight into the boys neck. Grey pulled the trigger and watched as the rebels brain matter exit through the back of his skull. Dropping the musket grey released his partner mightyena as they prepared to defend themselves. More rebels made themselves known as they charged the Mercenary.

"Lucifer! Shadow ball!" Grey commanded.

The mightyena blasted a ball of dark energy from it's maw knocking some of the raiders overboard. Quickly the insurgents summoned zigzagoons as together they attempted to swarm the Mercenary. Lucifer lit his maw aflame as he bit down on one of the small Pokemons. Grey gave a swift kick knocking away one of the pests as he brought his revolver slamming down across the head of one of the human assailants. Grey quickly grabbed the stunned man and kicked him into the rest of the group giving him enough time to equip his knife in his left hand. Grey shot the closest man in the heart and brought his knife down on the cheek of another. The man grabbed his face in pain as Grey used him as a human shield and unloading four more shots into the crowd. The rebels unleashed their own volly striking their comrade several times across the chest.

Lucifer had crushed the bones of many zigzagoons but they continued to attack in suicidal rage. The dark type was being repeatedly tackled, his only explosive attack useless against the swarm . Thinking quickly, Lucifer began to Sprint to the nearby deck cannons. Lighting his fangs once more he picked up a barrel marked "gunpowder" and flung it towards the small horde. The barrel rolled for a bit before being completely consumed in flames and rupturing. Nearby zigzagoons where turned to paste and others were skewered by flying splinters of wood.

As the explosion rocked the ship Grey's last shot missed its mark and hit an oil lamp on a nearby mast. Quickly the flames began to spread as the whole ship began to be set alight. The raiders took the searing flames as their signal to leave. Quickly the assailants ran back to their flying Pokemon and made way with what loot they could.

"please let me go!" The rebel in Grey's grip coughed out spitting out blood.

"Sure" Grey simply stated as he forced the rebel to the edge.

Grey ignored his plea for mercy as he kicked him overboard, quickly Grey recalled Lucifer and released his crobat. The crobat bit down on Grey's collar and held on as they both jumped into the sky.

Had this been any other circumstance, Grey would have almost described the sight as beautiful. He watched in awe as the airship tore across the sky like a falling star coming down to set the ground ablaze.

Grey slowly descended as he watched the airship slam into the Forest below, spreading the flames even farther.

"Not my best work" Grey said nonchalantly. The crobat chuckled as they continued to descend. With the new fire lighting up the surrounding area, a group of structures could be made out near the crash sight.

"Alucard, let's make way for the crash site, i think we've reached our destination sooner than expected" Grey commanded as he pointed towards the fire. The crobat gave an echoed shriek in approval as they descended into the fire.

Earlier...

Explosion after explosion could be heard overhead as a small kirlia stared upwards to the ceiling with annoyance. She looked back down to the journal she had been drawing in but found it difficult to continue. Suddenly, a stressed looking man wearing a long lab coat over a green shirt and brown cargo pants rushed in quickly

"Professor! It's Hot!" The kirlia complained aloud

"I know Rina I know! But I can't do anything about it right now! The whole town is in danger!" A tubby man responded hastily moving from radio to radio "as if the damned rocket mercenaries weren't enough, they decided to start a fire to flush us out. Nay I say!"

The kirlia looked on frustrated from behind her glass enclosure.

"Could I at least be released from the prison for the meantime?" Rina begged

"Not now Rina" The professor responded annoyed let me get everything in order and ill see about returning to your tests.

Rina looked towards her small room and began to examine it for what seemed like the hundredth time. A bookshelf sat in a corner containing books she's read ten times over, a desk she's sat in where she would draw or even write her own short stories from time to time, and a small bed where she rested after the day was done. A sudden jolt of realization ripped her from her depressed trance as she turned to face the tubby professor.

"Wait, fire? There's a fire going on outside?" Rina asked

Unsurprisingly the professor ignored her question and went back to sending S.O.S signals. Annoyed, Rina used her psychic powers to remove a chair right before the professor was about to sit causing him to crash to the floor on his rear. Rina smirked and went back to her desk and began to write.


	2. escape

The intense heat that radiated from the battlefield made landing all the more difficult for the falling mercenary and his Crobat. Grey dropped down and landed on the first roof he found, forcing it to shake violently as it began to give way. Grey ran to leap off the roof but was immediately pulled in by the section of collapsing roof. The last thing he managed to do before being completely overtaken was recalling his crobat.

The roof of the dilapidated house shook with a large thud as the soldiers inside threw themselves to the floor instinctively. After waiting some time they slowly rose to their feets silently thanking arceus for their safety. Finding their bearings, the shortest of the five spoke up.

"Why are we stuck in this ragged old building and not out their fighting with the rest of the militia?"

"We are meant to guard something more important than a few villagers son, be thankful the higher-ups think you worthy for such a task" The oldest spoke up

The young man looked down at his musket then out the window. "I know This is important, I just wish I could take a more active role"

"You might get that chance" a man called out as he arose from an underground cellar

The entire room stood at attention as their focus was now drawn to the high ranking man in the room.

"Nothing to report captain!" The youngest called out with a nervous salute.

The captain smiled and waved everyone in the room to relax as he approached with heavy footsteps.

"I would hope so son, but that's not what I'm here to discuss with you all." The captain explained loudly pulling out a worn map.

As the group gathered around the map they failed to spot the moving shadow that slipped through the room and into the cellar.

As Grey slid down the metal later he could hear the rumble of battle up above, silently praying to whatever god there was he's entering the right house. As his boot met a tiled floor he began to survey his surroundings. A brightly lit White room with computers covering the walls and many metal doors met his eyes, possibly any workers that were supposed to be around have bugged out do the attack. As Grey began to plan in his mind a tubby man in a lab coat walked briskly past him, paying no mind the intruding Mercenary. Curiously and with little other options, Grey followed.

Without realizing he picked up a tail the professor continued straight forward, determined to do his job. It wasn't long before he finally rammed through the door into a room filled with lab tables and a glass enclosure.

"Rina!" The professor yelled slamming his fist down on a large button causing the glass enclosures to begin opening. "Please don't asked any questions for once and just-"

The professor was cut off as he began to struggle against the arm around his neck, the man kicked and struggled as every gasp became more and more difficult. Slowly the professor began to lose strength before finally dropping to the ground with an unceremonious thud.

As the large man lay there Grey looked over him one last time before he glued his eyes to the small green haired Pokemon holding onto what appeared to be a child's notebook. After a few seconds of awkward silence Rina screamed and threw an entire book case at the mercenary who barely managed to duck out of the way. Before Grey could reach for a pokeball he felt an intense weight pressing down on his body paralyzing him as he struggled to stay on his knees. The kirlia teleported in front of the private contractor giving him the most intimidating glare she could muster.

"I'm going to give you one chance to tell me what you're doing down here before I crush your spine under your own weight!" The Pokemon yelled Into the mercs head.

"Damn it I'm just looking for a stupid shield!" Grey yelled, forcing his own hands up to hold his head.

Upon hearing what the merc said she immediately dropped her force on his mind as she took a cautious step back.

"Why... why are you looking for the shield?"

"I just needed to take it out of this stupid compound and into the hands of more capable people." Grey gasped, gripping at his chest.

"So... you're here to rescue me." the kirlia said, her eyes lighting up "You're a knight!"

"Wait...what?" Grey said groggily, recovering from his head splitting migraine.

The kirlia quickly flipped through the small sketchbook, thumbing through the book she came to the page she wanted and showed the merc. Grey looked over the drawing, it was a fairly well drawn gallade holding a longsword, wearing some type of metal armor and a cape. Grey looked up confused which caused the Pokemon to look away with a blush spreading across her face.

"I just thought it would be a gallade that would rescue me okay? Stop judging me!" the embarrassed Rina cried.

"You are not going anywhere" a voice called out from the doorway, the professor standing defiantly with a pokeball in his hand.

"I thought I knocked you out" Grey said annoyed.

"There is one thing you failed to calculate for Mercenary" the professor chuckled " I was only pretending to be unconscious!"

"You possum playing mother fucker!" Grey called out as both parties launched pokeballs.

With a flash of blinding light the forms a Raticate and blaziken stood.

"I am so fucked" Grey said to himself.

"Blaziken! Beat the shit out of that Mercenary!" The professor yelled.

The bipedal Pokemon flew forward knocking the Raticate out of the way as it prepared to deliver a flaming kick to the merc. Grey quickly pulled out a silver revolver out from under his waist cape and placed a well aimed shot at the Pokemons leg. Blaziken lost its balance as the bullet collided and smashed against its Pokemon hide. Grey Grabbed Rina as he launched himself out of the way of the falling fighting type. Unable to move from her hugged position, Rina launched an awkward wave of psychic energy crashing into the fallen blaziken.

"Rina! You would betray me? Me and those who took care of you all these years." The professor said hurt.

"I never wanted to be here in the first place! Doing all these stupid experiments!" Rina cried out annoyed.

You should of felt lucky! Do you know what the other laboratories wanted to do? Living here was a luxury suite compared to those other laboratories." explained the professor.

"Is that supposed to mean I should just forget about everything else you've put me through? No! You people took my free will before I was even born and now I'm taking it back!" Rina explained dramatically as she nonchalantly launched the previous bookcase at the struggling blaziken.

"If you only knew the consequences of your decision" Birch said solemnly.

The professor returned blaziken before summoning the forms of a swampert and sceptile.

"Alright sir knight! I'm counting on your battle skills" Rina said

"I'm starting to wish I had listened to Danna" Grey replied.

With a simple gesture the grass and water type launch forward with the intent to kill. Suddenly the sceptile was intercepted by the sting of rock hard teeth around its neck. The sceptile rocked furioisly as it struggled to shake off the vice grip of the Raticate. Grey lept to higher ground as he attempted to find cover from the oncoming swampert

As the swamp pokemon closed in, Rina panicked and instinctively through her hands up to protect herself, sending the water type flying into Grey. Both Pokemon and mercenary rammed into the white walls and created a sizable crater.

"Who's side are you on!?" Grey yelled in pain quickly pushing off the swampert with his legs.

"You didn't tell me what to do! You're supposed to be the one leading" Rina replied, still panicked.

"It's a battle! Meaning I'm also a target!" Grey yelled, moving to once again get out of the swamperts weight.

Suddenly the body of the Raticate slammed in head first into the unsuspecting Kirlia, sending both flying back.

"Sceptile! Careful where you send the enemies!! She must not be harmed" yelled the professor.

The sceptile gave an annoyed grunt as it ran to capture the Kirlia.

All sense of panic left Rina was replaced by pure annoyance. As the sceptile began to pick up Rina her eyes began to light up with a bright golden glow.

"Rina no! Stop!" The professor screamed to no avail

The sceptile dropped to its knees, it began to claw at its skull as its own eyes began to glow in the same ominous gold. The sceptile lunged at the confused swampert before quickly ripping into the water types flesh. The swampert quickly released a large torrent of water sending the sceptile crashing into the sealing with a sickening crack. The swampert struggled to keep conscious as it desperately attempted to keep it's own organs from spilling over.

As the glow faded from Rinas eyes she looked over the carnage she created. The small kirlia immediately fell to her knees emptying the contents of her stomach onto the floor.

"Oh arceus what have I done?" Rina yelled to no one, tears starting to form in her eyes.

"Don't you see Rina! This is what we were protecting you from. Come back to the comfort of your home and-" The professor was cut off as the hilt of Grey's sword crashed into the professors head.

Birch fell to the floor with a heavy thud as the mercenary stepped over his unconscious body. Rina through her hands up once again unintentionally sending a wave of energy sending Grey flying into the wall before falling onto the floor.

"You stay away from me! It's your fault I murdered-" Rina once again cut herself off with a bout of dry heaving. "I'm a dirty murderer

"Listen, I'm not about to go on a whole dramatic speech about how that's not right, or how it wasn't your fault" Grey said recalling his raticate and attempting to find his balance "but if you really want to escape like you said you wanted we need to leave now"

Rina looked up at the soldier in front of her, wisps of snow white hair fell from underneath his hood as his piercing silver eyes focused on hers. I'm definitely going to regret this Rina thought to herself as she stood up to approach the Mercenary.

"Alright good just do as I say and we'll leave in no time" Grey smiled "or at the very least leave in one piece"

As the small village continued to burn the once proud laboratory gave way to the constant rumbles and fell to its foundation. No one noticed the building collapse just as no one had noticed the two figures fleeing from the battlefield. After making it some distance away the kirlia looked back on the burning town and the battle that continued to rage on. Rina shuddered as the feelings of hatred and fear radiated from the now distant warzone. Grey turned around to see the now frozen kirlia staring into nothingness.

"Hey, quit stalling, the more distance we put between us and that hell hole the better." Grey said commandingly

"How can humans be so cruel?" Rina spoke before continuing in a louder tone "how can such darkness emanate from such a small area? How long has this been happening? And why couldn't I sense any of it!"

The kirlia dropped to her knees as she felt the dark emotions begin to affect her mood, dragging her into a deep depression. Grey looked over the kirlia now rolled up into a ball and sighed, the merc pulled out his dark type mightyena as he proceeded to lift the green haired pokemon and placed her on the dog pokemons back. Lucifer gave a whine of annoyance of the new passenger atop his back but said nothing more, the boss disliked complaints. As the two continued their march Grey couldn't help but think something was off. He had found what he needed and made his escape with it, all he had to do now was turned in the bounty and he would be swimming in wealth for a long time. Still something hung over greys head as he continued to ponder what exactly was wrong. Grey looked down to his mightyena who stared back with a friendly expression and then to the blank mess on his back.

"Say, does something feel... off to you?" Grey asked aloud.

The dark type stared confused at the trainer who had a look of concern plastered on his face. Just then Greys eyes went wide upon his realization.

"Holy shit that kirlia can talk!"

The mightyena gave Grey a blank stare before recoiling in surprise by the movement on his back.

The kirlia fell to the floor as she began to look around anxiously. Without another word, she disappeared, leaving a faint trace of a flash in her place.

"God damn psychic types" Grey said annoyed.

Lucifer gave a quick bark before pointing his nose up to a nearby tree, baring his fangs in a threatening manner.

Grey dragged his eyes up to where his companion was motioning to find the kirlia clinging to a branch, eyes shut tight. The Mightyena began to paw at the tree but stopped as Grey motioned him to cease.

Grey looked up to the scared Pokemon and began to speak

"You feeling alright? I don't mean to be a bother but we need to get moving if you want to keep ahead of your captors"

The sound of that Rinas eyes when wide as the idea of being put in a box again frightened her to her core.

"Alright I got your attention, look I understand you're still in a bit of a shock after making your first kill but we still need to make progress" Grey said plainly.

Rina quickly teleported to the mercenaries chest and stared into his eyes. "Oh easy for you to say! You've probably killed hundreds of people without a second thought, how would you know how I feel?"

"I might not understand but you've got more to lose from not moving than I do" Grey said through clenched teeth.

Rina glared at the mercenary before floating down to the ground. The psychic type turned her nose up and began walking down the route on her own.

"This is going to be a lot more work than she's worth" Grey said to himself.

The mightyena gave a yawn as he followed down the path. Defeated Grey followed close behind.

Large chunks of metal crashed into the burning ground as large amounts of debris blew in every direction, clearing the land of objects and living beings alike. As the dust settled large doors fell to hit the ground with a metallic thud as white hooded figures began to pour out and slaughtered anything wearing a red R with deadly efficiency. Out of the pods stepped forward a hooded knight in a white and indigo uniform. With a few hand signs the robed musket men spread across the crash landing zone, setting up a perimeter with rehearsed speed.

Quickly the knight began to advance on the nearby building, leaving behind the musket men to guard the entrance. Upon entering the ruins of the laboratory the knight made her way through the halls with speed. Finally arriving to the room that had once housed the shield. Looking around her eyes fell to the unconscious mass at her feet.

"Purple is that you?" The mass said looking up from the floor.

"Professor, where is the shield?" The knight replied.

"I was attacked by mercenaries, they forced their way in here and kidnapped her"

Purple began to seethe with rage as her grip on her sword tightened.

"Where are they now?" She said simply.

"I'm sorry i don't know, I've been down here for the remainder of the battle unconscious."

Purple quickly turned around and made her way to leave.

"Gather anything of interest." Purple said simply to her comrades nearby, "afterwards meet me outside for further orders."

"What about me?" Birch asked nervously.

"Your done, this issue is now in the hands of the knights." Purple replied simply.

"But the shield is still unstable, she needs to be brought back and-"

"We will retrieve the shield and will do with it as we will."purple said,l quickly cutting off the professor.

With the clack of her boot, purple disappeared leaving her men to work over the wreckage.

Giving a deep sigh, the professor looked down, wondering just how fucked the world was about to be.

Rina marched forward, not knowing where she's going but with a confident stride. The kirlia fidgeted with a small stone as she walked, juggling it between her hands and psychic powers. Grey followed close behind staring at the colorful pebble that flew around the Green haired Pokemon. Things appeared to be moving along smoothly, however if the price tag on the Pokemons head was anything to go by, Grey expected something more difficult. How was it his transportation was attacked near his target location, more than that, Rocket mercenaries just so happened to be assaulting the target location just as he was making his way to the village. By all accounts he should've been killed many times before but for some reason the best possible outcome has occurred, Nothing about this was adding up.

"Would you stop worrying so much? It's starting to get on my nerves." Rina said breaking the silence.

Grey looked up from the floor confused.

"You can read my mind?" Grey asked

"No, I can read your heart and your giving off large amounts of worry, it's putting me on edge so calm down"

Grey was taken aback by the sudden outburst and scoffed at the idea he was that easy to read.

"This is new to me too you know, back in the lab I hardly had anyone else around so I couldn't make full use of this ability"

"What did you do all day in that underground laboratory if you couldn't socialize?" Grey thought out loud.

"Learning" Rina stated simply "reading books, basic philosophy, some strategy, basically anything you'd find in a human learning institute."

Grey thought about education mostly as a secondary Skill compared to learning basic self defense. Of course he understood having enough smarts to be able to read wanted posters was important but what was the point of learning how to properly write a paper?

"Hey look! A sign!" Rina said pointing up to a nearby billboard breaking Grey out of his trance. "I can't read it."

"What do you mean you can't read it? Didn't you just say you used to read?" Grey asked bewildered

"I can't understand these specific symbols okay? I've never seen them before In my studies" Rina replied defensively.

Grey looked towards the sign that read "oldale town"

"Is that what it says?" Rina said looking up and cocking her head.

"Yes" grey stated "it's written in native hoenn, a different language from the one you speak...or think… I guess"

Rina looked confused as ever as she continued to inquire.

"Wait, what have I been talking in then?" Rina asked as she continued to walk.

"Basic, it's a language of a long dead empire, since it is native to no region in specific it makes for a favorable intermediate language for international politics and traveler's alike."

Rina was overcome with fascination, the thought of more languages brought with it the idea of new books and poems she's never seen before, hundreds possibly thousands of new stories just waiting to be read. As the kirlias mind ran wild with the thought, she was violently torn out of her trance as she tripped over a low wooden fence and landed face first into a patch of flowers.

"Arceus, I sure hope no one saw that." Rina whimpered.

Grey gave a small smile, the ridiculousness of this small creature being worth so much was almost comical to fathom.

"Excuse me children" an elderly voice called out "please try not to play in the flower patch"

Slowly approaching, an old man with an impressive beard came checking on the commotion.

"Sorry sir" Rina said, quickly climbing out of the patch "I wasn't paying attention and I fell in"

"is that so? Well I hope you take more caution during your stay" The old man laughed.

Rinas face reddened with embarrassment as she found her feet all the more interesting.

"You however," the elderly man said sternly pointing to Grey. "You can keep walking"

Rina looked up with confusion as the two men stared each other down.

"Wait, what's wrong with him?" Rina asked concerned

The old man looked to the large sword at Grey's back

"Mercenaries are nothing but trouble, we're all better off without their blood contracts"

"He can't be all that bad, he did rescue me from my captors after all. He's like… he's just like a hero for hire!" Rina snapped her two fingers in realization. "We can prove it too, we'll do anything you need taken care of."

"Wait-" Grey tried interjecting before he was cut off

"If you really want to prove that, there is actually something you can do" the old man started. "There are some hoenn rebels that have set up camp just outside our little town here. Usually I don't care about those extremists but as of late they have been going around demanding a 'tax' for their so called bravery."

"That's terrible!" Rina gasped " they have to be stopped at once!"

"If you do manage to kick them out, I'll give you a gift if you bring back any of the "tax" from the camp"

Rina looked up with confusion but nodded in agreement as the old man walked away. Rina had only just left her confinement and already taken her first quest. As the old man walked away Rina turned to Grey expecting excitement only to be met with a disapproving stare.

"What? I thought we were supposed to accept quests" Rina started nervously. "You're a hero… right?"

"Let's get one thing straight," Grey said with audible annoyance in his voice. I am a mercenary, I don't fight for honor or fame, I fight for coin.. If I don't get paid, I starve.

"But don't mercenaries fight in companies? you're more of a bounty hunter by definition" rina responded

"lm in between work right now okay?" Grey responded defensively "if i find a company worth joining i will but for now I have other priorities that need taking care of"

"Well it's not like we can go back on our word, besides, having some pocket change wouldn't be all that bad" Rina shot back

Grey flinched, unable to shoot back an adequate quip. He began to walk in the direction that the old man referred to.

"Hey! Where are you going?" Rina called out.

"To finish this job and get back on track" Grey said with a dullness in his voice.

"Oh excuse me princess!" Rina mocked as she levitated to catch up with the Merc. "You can be annoyed all you want but my logic is flawless"

"Flawless?" Grey scoffed "was it that flawless when you fumbled your way through that fight in the lab? besides I'm not annoyed, emotions are unprofessional and get in the way"

Rina floated in front of Grey to stare him in the eye as they walked.

"You hide your emotions well I'll give you that, but I'm the emotion Pokemon for a reason bub, I can practically smell the annoyance radiating from you, among other things" Rina said shooting Grey a disapproving glare.

Before grey could reply Rina grabbed Grey with her psychic abilities and quickly dragged him into the nearest bush. Grey made a move to stand but Rina just pushed the Merc back down forcefully while putting a finger to her mouth, shushing him. Within a few seconds Grey realized the situation as the sound of crushing grass became louder and louder. Two musket men marched, both wearing basic civilian clothing and toting large smooth barrels. The men were under equipped and surely under trained by the look of them. One of the men who had a sizeable goatee suddenly stopped and dropped to the floor.

"Arceus, why do I always get stuck with leg work?" he moaned.

"Oh shut up" his partner shot back "this days long enough without your constant bitching"

The bearded man spat at the feet of his annoyed partner and pulled out a shiny golden necklace.

"At least the pay is good," he chuckled, swinging the necklace back and forth.

Rinas eyes went wide at the site of the shiny jewelry. Grey unsheathed a knife in preparation of an ambush but was suddenly taken aback as a number of trees collapsed around the musket men. The men fell to the ground as a number of rocks began to fall upon them. Then just as suddenly as the onslaught began, silence fell upon the area. The men looked around nervously from the safety of the ground, right before they stand their eyes fall on the figure of a kirlia standing atop a fallen tree.

"Listen up brigands! You got something real important to a friend of mine, and I want it back!" Rina demanded

Again silence fell across the field, the awkward seconds ticked on before one of the men finally called out.

"Holy shit! Did that Pokemon just talk?"

Grey face palmed from the bushes at the circus that was performing before him. Rina again hailed the men with rocks before demanding again.

"I said hand over your valuables"

"Fuck you" one of the men yelled raising his musket.

Suddenly the sound of gunfire rang loud as the musket flew to the floor.

"What the hell?" The rebel yelled, shaking his hand in pain.

Grey began to make his way out of the brush, smoking revolver still in his hand, he looked to rina and back to the cornered men.

"Look let's not make this any harder than it has to be okay? I'm sure we can work something out, or my little friend here can crush you with a boulder.

The men looked at each other and then towards their aggressors.

"How about you screw yourself! Manectric quick attack!" One of the men screamed, launching a pokeball straight at Rina.

Before Rina could react the electric type slammed into her, knocking the wind out of her before sending her flying into Grey. Seeing the chance the two men began to climb out of their makeshift prison and Sprint back in the direction they came.

Rina screamed in anger forcing herself up off the mercenary who broke her fall. With a golden glow in her eyes Rina began to unleash a torrent of psychic energy at the manectric who barely managed to dodge.

Quickly teleporting Rina slammed a electric fist into the back of the electric dogs head slamming it into the ground.

Before the manectric could recover Rina climbed on top of it's pathetic form before repeatedly slamming fist after shocking fist into its rib cage. Each punch rang out in a sharp snap of bone, forcing the dog to cry out in pain.

Grey quickly tackled the raging Psychic type to the ground in an attempt to restrain her but found himself at the end of a blast that sent him flying through a tree trunk.

Rina again roared as Grey stood to his feet, pokeball in hand.

"Alright you little bitch we're doing this the hard way, Lucifer deploy!"

With a flash of light the mightyena appeared with a roar. With a swift hand motion the dark type charged fangs bared. Rina then again shot a powerful wave of energy in an attempt to destroy the Pokemon. Lucifer sailed through the attack unaffected to the kirlias surprise. Lucifer sank his fangs into the kirlia as he charged a shadow ball in his mouth.

"Knock her out now!" Grey commanded.

In one swift motion the dark type launched Rina skyward as he released the shadow ball. The dark energy crashed into the kirlia sending her flying further upward before falling back down to the ground. Grey ran and caught the fainted Pokemon moments before she met the ground, with a sigh of relief Grey fell to the ground.

Rina slowly opened one eye to meet Grey's, ashamed she looked down before she spoke.

"Did I...did I do it again? Kill?" Rina said flinching at the last word. Grey hesitantly turned to the body of the injured manectric before responding.

"No, not this time" Grey said in a plain voice.

"I can tell I did do something bad" Rina smiled "but I also sense your telling the truth"

With that Rina returned to her slumber leaving the Merc alone with the confused Lucifer at his side. With a final shake of his head the Merc picked up the kirlia and began to walk back.


	3. baptism by fire

**A.N.: this took a bit longer than i had hoped to get out, dealing with a job and and an upcoming event. anyways its here now and ill try my best to keep up.****pokemon and its characters belong to the pokemon company. please suppprt the official I.P.**A swirl of gold dust spun around in an empty space, glittering and shining brighter and more beautiful than any night sky. The slow dance was calming, like watching a music box turn as it played its tender tunes.

Suddenly there began to appear flashes in the nebula bringing snapshots of pain and suffering. With every flash brought more horrid images of battles long past and ones to come. The flashes began to increase in frequency as the golden nebula slowly started to tear itself apart. The last thing that lingered was a picture of a Gardevoir, golden aura blazing, raining death upon a helpless humanity.

Rina gasped as she bolted upright, holding her head in horror as she tried to make sense of what her dreams spoke to her. Catching her breath the Kirlia looked around her surroundings. She was in a small tent by the look of it, laying on top of a black blanket. Rina smacked her dry lips as her eyes landed on a tin cup of water. Without hesitation, the psychic type chugged down the water and a cool relief spread across her throat. With a satisfying gasp, Rina set the cup down as she now looked to the intruder poking its head into her tent.

The Mightyena gave a smile as he barked a hello before retreating back outside. Rina nervously sat in silence before gathering up her courage and crawling outside.

The night sky shone brightly with stars as Rina looked up to a magnificent sight she hadn't seen in years.

"Finally awake I see." Grey piped up from across a pit of flames.

Rina looked around to see the mercenary flanked by his Raticate and a Crobat. Rina began to stare in awe as she came to the realization that her escape, her freedom, it wasn't a dream after all.

"Come. I have some rations ready. You're hungry, aren't you?" Grey said breaking the silence, holding up a small cloth bag.

Cautiously, Rina approached to take the gift. The Kirlia sat down to open her bag now slowly feeling the gnawing pain of hunger. Rina stared into the bag, a few berries and some dried meat beckoning her to devour them. Without ceremony, the small Pokemon grabbed berry after berry, shoving her mouth with as much food as she could. Quickly swallowing, Rina began to grab at her throat as the amount of food became to much for her tiny throat. Instinctively, Grey offered the psychic type another cup of water that she chugged down just as quickly as the one from before. Giving a relieved sigh, she placed the rest of the food down.

"I uh, well... thanks for the food." Rina said nervously.

"No problem." Grey replied. "Aren't you going to eat that meat?"

Rina shook her head no before responding.

"I am an herbivore, I can't digest flesh."

"Huh, I guess I'll have to remember that." Grey stated. "Are you alright by the way? I heard some struggling in the tent right before you woke up."

"Just a nightmare," Rina responded. "it was uh… well I've forgotten now."

They both sat in silence for awhile before Grey spoke once again.

"You were out for quite awhile, do you… remember anything?"

"Only that we confronted some brigands on the road." Rina responded.

"You confronted." Grey corrected chewing a piece of dried meat. "You got balls on you for a Kirlia."

"Balls?" Rina asked.

"Uh, nevermind. Still, that was pretty reckless just jumping in like that." Grey continued.

Rina scoffed while pointing a finger to her temple.

"Everything was already accounted for. Even if you hadn't stopped that man from firing his weapon, I had already jammed the firing pins with my Psychic." Rina stated proudly.

"Well aren't you clever?" Grey said jokingly. "Anyways, I just sent Lucifer to do some last minute scouting, he was able to track down those two thugs to their hideout."

"Lucifer? That's your Mightyena right?" Rina asked.

"Correct." Grey answered, food still hanging out of his mouth. "Speaking of which, I'd like you to meet the rest of your travel companions Alucard the Crobat, and Hannibal the Raticate." Grey stated motioning to both Pokemon around the fire.

All the Pokemon sat in awkward silence for what felt like an unbearable amount of time. The Raticate gave Rina a menacing glare before returning to his food. Alucard looked on for a bit longer before also returning to his food. Rina swallowed nervously, feeling like an outcast and unwanted. She looked downward to her hands, nervously fiddling.

Rina looked up as she realized what she had forgotten.

"What happened to the Manectric we were battling." Rina spoke concerned.

Grey picked up a stick and pointed to the sleeping figure on the other end of the camp.

"He's been like that for awhile, but he should be fine. Just a bit of rest and he'll be up and walking in no time." Grey said reassuringly.

Rina stood up and made her way to the sleeping creature. If she hadn't gone out of control maybe his condition wouldn't be as bad. Rina left her dried meat besides the Manectric as she performed a small prayer. Hannibal looked on disapprovingly as Alucard just rolled his eyes.

Grey took his stick and began to draw shapes on the floor. A large square followed by some more shapes within. Finishing up her prayer, Rina turned around to take a look at the drawing, her eyes flashing as she immediately realized what it was.

"Battle plans!" Rina called out. "I haven't seen these since my time at the cathedral."

"They teach the art of war in places of worship?" Grey asked amused.

"Of course! Where else are you going to find that amount of books in one place?" Rina laughed.

Grey looked back down and began to point around the little map he made.

"Lucifer and I already went ahead and scouted out the camp. I estimate about thirty men are encamped here but very few Pokemon so I assume there aren't any trainers. It's set up right on the edge of a lake so quickly burning it would be ineffective when they have access to water so close. So the assault will have to be quick and brutal. Assaults from the left, then the right and then the center, all repeatedly until they break and either flee into the water or surrender." Grey explained.

"That is way too tedious, not to mention your splitting up an already small force against an encamped enemy." Rina stated.

"There's no other feasible way about it. They have us outnumbered so we have to stretch our front to match them." Grey shot back shaking his head.

"They should have a munitions tent, right? What if we set up explosions throughout the camp in order to confuse the enemy and demoralize them?" Rina thought.

"Not possible, the patrols have every open space covered alongside the few Pokemon they do have that know Odor Sleuth."

"Well what if we walked in through the front?" Rina said picking up her own stick and dragging it across the miniature map. "Assuming that hood of yours hid your face well enough in the last battle. We could disguise you as one of them and enter without much trouble. Then afterwards you release Lucifer to begin setting up charges, we light them up and start attacking from the inside while Hannibal and Alucard attack from the outside. Subtle, effective, and yes… brutal."

Grey sat in thought over the plan, it was possible since he was Hoennese by blood and would possibly pass of as a straggler from a random battle. He exhaled before continuing.

"It could work. However, it would be easier to do so if I could look like them."

"Simple!" Rina exclaimed moving to grab at Greys shoulder. "Just take off that armour and you'll look like one of those other tan skinned humans."

Before Rina could land a finger on the merc, the other two Pokemon cried in disapproval while taking stances ready for battle. Rina flinched as she took two steps back.

"I-i'm sorry." Rina stated bowing her head. "I got carried away."

Grey stared at the Kirlia and then to the fire in thought. With a hard swallow, he pushed down the last of his dried meat before he began to strip off his armor. The Raticate and Crobat gave a look of concern as their master let his guard down around the newcomer. Soon, Grey stood only his boots, pants and hooded coat shirt.

"This plan better go over well, or else we'll be in a world of pain." Grey said pulling back his hood to reveal his messy white hair.

"We?" Rina gulped.

"We." Grey confirmed. "You have faith in your strategic ability don't you?

"Well, yeah," rina started. "I've just never had to actually put plans into action before let alone execute them myself. What would I be doing?"

"You will walk into the camp alongside me." Grey stated flatly.

"Wouldn't it be more beneficial if I coordinated things from a high vantage point and look after our injured friend?" Rina shot back nervously.

Grey smiled thinking back to all the self proclaimed strategists who've said the same thing. Constantly putting men in danger while they themselves sat idly by in their tents atop a hill.

"Of course not. The rarity of your species will help me lie my way into the camp." Grey explained.

"What?! That was nowhere in my plan!" Rina protested.

"Typical strategist, she makes the plan and forgets it's up to the little guy to make it work." Grey said looking down to the tiny Kirlia.

They stood staring at each other for a good few seconds before Rina finally gave a sigh.

"Fine, I'll go along with it, just no Pokeballs, okay?" Rina relented.

"Sure." Grey responded "Oh and please keep your mouth shut. Normal Kirlia don't speak basic."

With that, Grey started packing away his belongings as he motioned the rest of the team to prepare themselves. Rina stuck her tongue out a final time before she started to put away her belongings, took one final look at the injured pokemon and left.

"This is stupid I feel naked without my satchel!" Rina whispered fidgeting around with her hands.

"Small Pokemon don't carry around bags... and aren't you already naked?" Grey shot back.

"How dare you!"

The pair continued down the road for a few minutes. The night sky had turned clouded as if the heavens were shielding their eyes for what was about to happen. Shadows moved in the tree line back and forth, the figures of a Raticate and Crobat ran about preparing for the oncoming battle. Finally, they came across lights in the distance, a number a torches brought light to a campsite.

"Stop right there stranger!" A man called out as he walked out of the treeline. "What's your business?"

Rina looked up confused before cocking her head towards Grey.

"I'm a soldier from a separate sect of freedom fighters. I was separated at the battle in Littleroot and I've been wandering around ever since." Grey responded.

The guard glaced at the Kirlia before returning to the conversation.

"Whoa, wait! Are you a part of the ''Goliath's Spears'?" The man said excitedly. "Whoa man, you're like a hero! Come! Come! I'll get you settled."

Grey and the man began walking away leaving Rina standing with a confused expression plastered on her face.

"Move." Grey stated simply.

Rina looked on at the two walking as a strange feeling crept into her mind, something wasn't right.

"I can't believe you own a Kirlia, those are unbelievably rare!" The insurgent proclaimed. "But then again, it seems only natural for a member of the G.S. Hey, maybe you can tell me a few stories later?"

As the two men made small talk, Rina sighed while slowly keeping pace behind them. Rina tried keeping her mind busy as she wanted to push away the uncomfortable feelings. She thought back to her stories and how they failed to mention how much walking would be involved within an adventure. Mostly in all the books she's read had glossed over such a fact. How relieving it must be to be a Gardevoir, to float around, gravity at your command. As her thoughts wandered, they had taken their firsts steps into the encampment.

As Rina's eyes looked across the men and tents, the emotions of anxiety and depression began to fall over her. Rina tried to fight it but the emotions began to slow her down. Each step began to feel heavier than the last as an overwhelming desire to lay down and wallow in sorrow began to blanket over her.

In one fluid motion, the small Pokemon felt herself be lifted before falling face first into a soft shirt. Looking up, the young Kirlia met the silver eyes of Grey looking over his shoulder. Rina's heart began to steady as she felt the flat stoic feelings emanating from the back she clung to override the outside influence.

"Sorry, she's a bit tired from our long journey." Grey spoke to their guide.

"Oh, don't worry about it." The guard said with a large smile. "Anyways, please set up in this tent while I grab the camp leader."

With that, the rebel began to walk off as the duo made their way inside. Rina quickly closed the tent as Grey proceeded to release Lucifer.

"Okay, part one is done. Oh Arceus, I am in way over my head!" Rina said with a shaky voice.

"Would you relax? Things are going fine, we just need to stick to the plan and the battle will be won within a matter of seconds." Grey said leading Lucifer to the opposite end of the tent. "You know what to do Lucifer. Sniff out that gun powder and spread it around the camp, set it off and go wild."

Grey lifted the tent flap and Lucifer slipped through, disappearing into the other side. Grey went back to sit down next to Rina as he unsheathed his revolver. Slowly piece by piece Grey began to take apart the weapon and sorted the pieces into a neat spread. After the entirety of the weapon was disassembled he began to wipe down and apply oil to the parts. Meticulously he cleaned each individual chamber in the cylinder and the full length of the inside and outside of the barrel. Polishing up the few frame parts, he gave the screws and pins a quick wipe down. Grey continued his meticulous chore for what felt like a half hour. Finally, the weapon bagan to be assembled piece by piece as Rina starred in amazement as it was simply and efficiently put back together. Grey gave the trigger a few test pulls to feel the weapons movements. Indeed it felt smoother and more responsive than before.

"That was fascinating." Rina finally spoke.

Grey chuckled before responding.

"Just simple weapon maintenance. If you take care of your weapons, they'll take care of you."

Before Rina could respond, a sickly looking man entered the tent. He was pale white and wore an expensive looking coat over what appeared to be ragged clothes underneath. The stranger's eyes fell onto the Kirlia and a smile crept onto his face as Rina was bombarded with disturbing emotions. Rina cringed at this as she went to hide behind Grey, desperately clutching his back to feel the same steady emotions as before.

"Aww, did I scare the creature? I am terribly sorry for my condition. Things haven't gone so smoothly on our end as I'm sure you've seen." the pale man stated, taking a seat in front of the mercenary. "I am Cicero, the leader of this band of freedom fighters."

"Well met commander Cicero, I am Vash, a member of raiders during the battle of Littleroot." Grey said confidently.

"I had heard there was a battle taking place there, I wanted to go and help believe me. But unfortunately, I have been stuck here, unable to commandeer enough food to make the march. But please, do fill me in on the results of the battle." Cicero asked.

Rina continued to grasp on to Greys shirt as she began to get scared. She was afraid of the man but something didn't feel right, nothing about this place felt right. The camp, the soldiers, and even the few Pokemon nearby all felt like they had a great darkness within them. There was an even darker emotion that emanated from the sickly man the moment he laid eyes on her. Rina wasn't sure what, but she knew he wanted to bring her great harm.

'What in the Reverse World is taking Lucifer so goddamn long?' Rina thought to herself mushing her face into Grey's back.

Lucifer walked about the camp as he attempted to sniff out the largest section of gunpowder. The state of the camp was ragged and falling apart, the men and Pokemon were weak and demoralized. Soldiers like these would make easy prey Lucifer thought. Nothing like the stoic boss he knew, the boss would be able to take on all these men single handedly if he wanted too. However, the boss wants to try the newcomer's plan, obviously it was in an attempt to give himself a challenge for once Lucifer thought, smiling happily at his own logic.

Lucifer's nose twitched as he took another deep sniff to the tent at his right. Taking a look inside, two guards were sleeping at a desk to the corner of the tent. Large and small barrels of gunpowder were stacked in the room alongside crates of musket balls and, more surprisingly, a single crate of minie balls. Lucifer was confused as to how they managed to get their hands on such a bullet type but shook off his curiosity as he refocused on his task.

Over the next half hour, Lucifer quietly spread out the munitions across the entirety of the camp. None of the men or Pokemon paid the dark type any mind as he walked about the camp, all too busy worrying about themselves.

Barrels were placed in specific locations depending on what they would do; in the latrines to stink the area and hopefully infect enemies, another batch near the makeshift mess hall to punish their stomachs, and finally another near the ragged infirmary to viciously tear apart their morale. Lucifer smiled as he brought the last of the fuse wire to the munitions tent. When he was done, this would mark another victory in his boss's career.

"What the...? Who do you belong to?! What are you doing with that cable?!" One of the munition guards yelled at lucifer.

Lucifer quickly dropped the cable on top of the rest already on the tent floor. Lucifer then bit down on them all with a Fire Fang, quickly setting them all off in unison. The sparkles flew off in separate directions as the closest one flew towards the largest barrels in the room. Without delay, Lucifer quickly dashed out of the tent as the guardsman was left to helplessly drag his groggy comrade out of the tent. Lucifer quickly began to charge back to his master's location, tearing apart any confused bystanders in his way. Finally, the real battle would begin.

"That is a very lovely Kirlia you've got there, it looks very healthy. It wouldn't happen to be female, would it?" Cicero asked, trying to catch a glimpse at the hiding Pokemon.

"As a matter of fact, it is female." Grey stated bluntly, internally starting to become annoyed knowing full well where this was leading.

"It is very beautiful. You know, a niece of mine has been wanting one for the longest time. I'd love to see the look on her face when her brave uncle comes home with one. You wouldn't be interested in maybe selling it now, would you?" The pale man asked hopefully.

"No, I am not interested in giving her up." Grey again stated bluntly.

"You refer to it as a person? Then am I right to assume you have a close bond with it then?" Cicero said exaggerating the word "close".

"That's none of your business." Grey said more angrily.

"You really are funny. Listen Vash, from one war veteran to another, do you know what it's like having loved ones back home waiting for you? Worried whether or not you'll come home? Please help me lighten their emotional burden. And if you really care about that Pokemon, wouldn't it be better for it to live away from the battlefield?" The pale man said pleading.

"That is very touching commander, it honestly is. However, the Pokemon is very close to me and wouldn't leave me even if i asked it too. As such, I will honor its wish and leave it in my care. However, I do wish the best for your family." Grey responded

The sickly man smiled as he shook his head back and forth.

"Okay, I get it. You're not as stupid as you look. I am forcibly confiscating that Pokemon in the name of the rebellion and as your ranked superior, you will comply."

"You're really trying to continue that lie, aren't you? Anyone can tell at a glance this camp belongs to brigands." Grey said smiling.

"Listen Vash, I have armed men stationed all around the camp. Even if you did manage to figure out our true occupation, you're not getting away without a tribute. Here's how it's going to go, you are going to leave and we will take the Kirlia for our entertainment, or you can try and fight us, lose, and be forced to watch as we take her right in front of your eyes. Over… and over… and over again." Cicero smiled.

The evil feelings coming from the pale man were now coursing through the Kirlia painfully. Rina wanted to cry as she felt the malicious intent in the man's voice set fire to her nerves. What he would do with her if she was left alone with him was unknown to the Kirlia, but she knew it was something extremely evil.

"P-please don't let him near me, Grey." Rina pleaded desperately in a hushed voice. "I don't like this. I want to leave now, please!"

Grey looked over his shoulder to see Rina's eyes shut holding back tears. Suddenly, a fast shadow ran past the tent wall as a wave a relief fell over Grey. Rina was slowly starting to sense confidence as she looked up confused to the smiling merc. Grey looked back at Cicero with a cocky smile before he started to laugh.

"You should've taken me out the moment you had me in the tent." Grey laughed as Cicero looked on in confusion but before he could do anything, the loud sounds of explosions beginning to fire up outside drew his attention.

"Enemy raid!" Cicero yelled out "you-"

Cicero turned back to face the mercenary only to be met with the end of a shiny barrel.

"Give this to your niece." Grey stated.

With a single pull of the trigger, Cicero's head exploded outwards, painting the cloth walls behind him with his own brain matter. Rina gripped at her ears nubs as the loud bang of the revolver numbed her hearing. For a few seconds, the ringing in her head persisted as her eyes fell onto the man sitting down and missing the back of his skull. At first, Rina was disgusted with the display, however those feelings were quickly banished as the malicious emotions ceased immediately. Rina began to laugh as she launched a wave of Psychic, pushing the man onto the floor.

"Let's finish this off." Grey stated standing up to walk outside.

"Right behind you!" Rina said following Grey stopping only to spit on the corpse of the man.

The outside was in complete disarray. Men shot randomly into the tree line as glowing air flew back cutting those same men in half. The few Pokemon that were stationed in the camp took this as an opportunity to abandon their masters and took off into the wild. Simultaneously, a spinning wheel of flames ran across the camp setting fire to everything and every one it touched. The fire wheel stopped to take notice of the its boss Grey, revealing the form of Hannibal the Raticate.

Over the next few seconds, the men were cut down as they began to flee for their lives. The fleeing men tripped over the corpses of their comrades in their desperate race to escape. Rebels injured were left behind as they wailed in pain and begged for the mercy of death. Screams of pain and suffering sounded out as the medical tents caught ablaze, the men inside unable to escape their blazing fate. The ones who started to fight met the worst fate as Lucifer ripped them apart with extreme prejudice.

Rina looked on at the carnage unfolding before her. The cries of fear and desperation echoing in her mind. However, unlike last time, Rina was unfazed. She focused on the stoic feeling of her Guardian as she finally began to partake in the mayhem. Waves of psychic confusion fell upon the rebels as they began to fire at each other. The rebels continued to run as the stragglers found themselves impaled by wooden branches being used as makeshift javelins by the Kirlia. Before long, there was not a soul that was willing to stand before them all.

"Fall in!" Grey yelled. "Set up for a door breach on my location!"

The rest of the team quickly gathered around a large wooden building Grey stood in front off. The building was likely the headquarters of the rebels. With a swift kick, Grey's boot knocked down the door. Upon entering, they were met by a disgusting scene. Women were chained to the walls naked, bruised and beaten. They did not react to the presence of the merc or rest of the group. At first, Rina assumed they were deceased but the emotionless gap they left in the room was obvious.

"Grey… they're…" Rina spoke unable to finish her sentence.

Grey gave an understanding nod as he motioned the rest of the group to scrounge around for any objects of value.

"We'll help them, but not now." Grey stated.

"What do you mean? They need our help!" Rina said desperately running to one of the girls.

Grey quickly picked up Rina and held her back as she desperately tried to break free.

"Look, I want to help them as much as you do but we cannot do that now. We need to get back to Oldale town and tell the old man about this. It'll be better for their minds if people they know are the ones rescuing them." Grey explained.

Rina fell limp as she felt herself being useless again, unable to be of assistance in the middle of a horrid display.

"Please." Rina said, softly beginning to sob. "Please let me save one of them, I just want to save at least one person from the emotions that are butchering me inside."

Grey felt a sting of pain in his heart as he slowly placed the Kirlia onto the floor. Rina slowly began to approach the huddled women as she looked for any signs of sanity. Finally, one girl met her eyes tearfully as she too began to sob.

"No, please don't cry!" Rina said rushing to comfort the girl. "It's okay, the bad men are gone now, you're safe."

The girl stared in shock before smiling.

"I have truly broken. I am hallucinating my own rescue, by a talking Pokemon no less."

Rina wiped the tears from her own eyes as she used her Psychic to rip apart her chains.

"I know how this looks, but please, believe me when I say everything is going to be okay. We were sent to rescue you. So please, come with me." Rina pleaded holding out her hand.

Without another word, the young girl took the small Pokemon's hand as she slowly stood to her feet. Grey came up from behind to place his waist cape over the shoulders of the girl.

The rest of the team had gathered around, now with valuables in their clutches. Grey turned to face the team as he started to leave.

"Let's head out. The faster we leave, the faster we can get these people some help." With that, Grey left alongside the small Pokemon walking out with the girl in hand.

The rest of the team were confused, this was the part of the mission where the boss would become happy with all the valuables, so what's why wasn't he? They all looked to each other confused before accompanying their master. Something was bothering Hannibal in specific, and something in him was telling him it was the Kirlia that was to blame. As they left the charred remains of the camp, they all were worried of what came over their boss.

Once the group had left the massacre of a battle, Grey was looking forward to finally putting this mess behind him. He had recalled his team and the injured Manectric had left to the woods. Grey was now entering back into Oldale town with a new companion in tow. The girl, apparently named Peeri, had gained her senses and it became obvious she was there for the least amount of time compared to the others. It was Rina who had did the most to try and put Peeri at ease. With many conversation topics and the like, she managed to bring her back down to earth.

The group stopped in front of the flower bed at the center of the small town as Peeri's eyes began to water.

"I can't believe it. I'm actually home." she softly spoke.

"Peeko, is that you?" A voice yelled suddenly from a nearby house.

"Grandpa!" Peeri said running over to embrace her grandfather.

The two stood embracing each other, weeping and crying over their reunion. Rina gasped in surprise as she realized the old man was the same one who had gave them the mission in the first place. Rina quickly pointed it out to Grey, who took the opportunity to walk up to the old man.

"I hate to cut your reunion short but I need to inform you there were other woman at that campsite in bad condition. You might want to gather up a posey and fetch them." Grey said professionally.

The old man took his coat and wrapped it around his granddaughter, telling her to quickly hand back the mercenary's black waist cape.

"I sent you out fully expecting you to die mercenary, but you have come back with a far better gift that I could ever ask for. Please, take this and if you ever require my assistance do not ever hesitate to ask." The old man said handing a satchel of yen to Rina.

"Hold on, out of all the humans to meet me you've been the only one who wasn't surprised at my ability to talk." Rina stated confused.

"Well, when you've sailed around the world for as long as I have, nothing really surprises you anymore. Also my sight isn't as good as it used to be!" The old man laughed loudly. "Anyways, thank you mercenary, your kind may be wild but you're personally welcome back any time."

Grey picked up the satchel out of the Kirlia's hands, much to her annoyance and began to walk off. Rina gave a quick bow to the old man before running off to catch up to the merc. As they walked off into the new direction, Rina promised herself to help as many people as she could during her time out in the open.


	4. new day

**A/N. id like to start off with an apology to anyone following the story. id hoped i could get this out sooner but it ended up later than before. i couod make excuses all day long but the fact of the matter is i failed. anyways here is the next chapter and i hope its a good read. **

The sky was overcast and small rays of sunlight penetrated the sky as a heavy wind blew. Grey and Rina had been marching on for the past few hours, slowly making progress as they fought to walk against the wind. The mercenary had finally had enough and decided to walk off the beaten path much to the Kirlia's confusion. The two walked into the tree line while Rina still wondered what was going on. Her questions were answered when they stepped out of the line again and were met with the edge of a small lake which was shielded from the winds on all sides by trees.

Rina was amazed at the scenery that stood before her like a painting. Grey released his teammates again as he began to set up another camp. Rina looked around in confusion before walking back to the mercenary.

"How did you know this place was here?" Rina asked.

"I smelled the water." Grey flatly stated.

Rina looked on to see her traveling companions stretch and go their separate ways.

"That's impossible, water is odorless. Unless you have spent a good portion of your life in a desert, the only beings that could smell water would be water types."

"Well, isn't that a fun fact." Grey simply stated, now laying underneath the shade of a nearby tree.

"I didn't peg you as someone to take many breaks." Rina said jokingly.

"Yes well, I didn't get any sleep last night either so I'm under the impression that this is justified. Relax, after your baptism by fire, I think you're the one who needs this the most." Grey said finally closing his eyes.

The Kirlia sighed as the merc turned away from her to sleep. She was still on edge from last night and a feeling of anxiety had yet to leave her chest. Her mind ran wild with terrible scenarios of failure. Things she could not, or rather, refused to imagine. She looked again upon the sleeping contracter and wondered how he became so calm after battles. Does he simply not feel it? Or perhaps he hates the world. Either way, it's probably something Rina couldn't see herself doing.

Rina looked around at the lake wondering how she could take her mind of her worries for awhile. An idea popped into the young Kirlia's head as she ran to find the thickest branch she could find. The other Pokemon looked on in confusion before they too moved on to do other things for themselves. Lucifer found another shaded spot to lay down as he too began his nap. Hannibal grabbed the attention of his flying companion before they both decided to follow the Kirlia.

Rina took some tree bark and began to rub them in between her hands back and forth until simple fibers were left. She did this a number of times until she had a sizeable pile at her feet. Using her mind, Rina picked up the fibers and began to twist them all together to form a thin strand of string. Finally, she coated the string in some sap as to hold the whole thing together. She then proceeded to wrap the string around a large branch she had found. Rina took a small rock and began to chip away at it, turning it into the shape of a tiny hook which she then used to tie around the other side of the string. When she was done, Rina held up her creation triumphantly; a small makeshift fishing rod.

Rina quickly teleported away as a rock landed where she was before. Rina turned to look at the perpetrators annoyed at their antics.

"Hey! Watch where you're throwing those things!" Rina said angrily clutching her rod. The Raticate chuckled while the Crobat looked on in disappointment before the former piped up.

"Who do you think you are speaking to us like that, newcomer?" Hannibal said annoyed.

Rina spat at their feet as she started to walk away but was quickly blocked by Alucard. The Crobat was about to speak but was quickly cut off.

"Listen hear," Hannibal started. "there's a little something we do around here called respect. You are a principal under our protection only meant to be escorted. You should be happy keeping to yourself as we do our jobs. However, here you are coming out of nowhere, making plans for the boss as if you are equals and you can't even be bothered to show some humility."

"Are you joking?" Rina chuckled "You two are trying to haze me because you're jealous? Because I see myself on equal footing with a human?"

"What? This has nothing to do with envy!" Hannibal retorted. "Lucifer is the boss' most trusted companion and you don't see me complaining! Why? Because he is the most vetted and battle hardened comrade we have! I respect him and if anyone's on equal footing with our human, it's him!"

Rina looked over to the sleeping Mightyena who was minding his own business. If there was anyone she could respect, it would be someone like the dark type. Rina lingered on the irony of giving her respect to what would ordinarily be her predator for a few seconds before being snapped out of her trance by the Raticate.

"Hey! Are you listening to me?" Hannibal complained.

"Look, maybe we'd better just leave." The Crobat said.

"No, are you insane? This is necessary for the cohesion of the team!" The mouse Pokemon stated.

A sharp bark sounded off as all their collective attention was brought upon the dark type.

"Hannibal, just tell her you love her and get it over with." Lucifer said annoyed.

"What? No! I do not have any romantic feelings for her! It's the opposite!" Hannibal stammered out.

"Oh? Then stop bothering her as if you did and leave her to her devices." Lucifer said flatly. "And if I ever see you even attempting to assault a principal under the care of the boss again, I'll have you reprimanded."

The Raticate turned around to walk away still muttering under his breath. Alucard floated in awkward silence before approaching Rina and dropping a small silver necklace into her hands.

"Hey, uh, I just wanted to say thanks for being a part of the fighting back there. No one actually expected you to take part of the battle, but you made a few impressive kills out there. For that, you have my respect and more importantly, a share of the profits."

Alucard left, leaving Rina alone with Lucifer. Rina looked over to the dog Pokemon as he was attempting to make himself comfortable again.

"Thanks for sticking up for me back there." Rina said bowing slightly.

"You don't need to thank me. I was just getting real annoyed of all the loud noise." Lucifer said laying down.

Rina, putting away her gift, decided not to reply and let him sleep as thanks. She turned and began approaching the edge of the lake.

Rina stared at the water as she looked over her shaking reflection. Her previously white face was now covered in dirt and her tutu was also in a sorry display. Rina knelt down to cup a bit of water in her hands and splashed it on her face. She rubbed her face a bit to remove most of the dirt and when she was done, Rina was cleaner but still far from her once bright self.

Getting up again, Rina began to take step after careful step into the cool clear water, soaking her natural leggings. She stuck a piece of dry meat that she had held onto earlier at the end of her fishing rod. Closing her eyes, she reached out into the surrounding area with her mind. As a couple of emotions sprang forward, she closely examined each one that caught her interest. Annoyance? That was clearly Hannibal. Calm relaxation? Possibly the only two in her group sleeping. Hunger? That was it! Rina threw her arms back before swinging forward, launching the makeshift hook into the water. Almost immediately she felt a tug at the end of her rod, nearly pulling her into the water. She pulled with all the force her tiny arms could muster as she began to pull in the string hand over hand. The splashing increased as the water type struggled for its life, not letting itself be taken easily. Finally, the Kirlia gave one last pull as the form of a Goldeen came flying out of the water.

Rina looked on with glee and then utter horror as it landed right onto a wooden carving Hannibal was making, thus forcing it to fall to the ground and break apart. The Raticate gritted its teeth in anger as it picked up the remaining pieces and walked off without saying a word. Rina stood in awkward silence, the only thing making noise being the flapping water type in the distance. Rina mentally kicked herself for creating even more trouble for herself later.

Out of the corner of her eye, the young psychic type caught sight of a long flowing white dress. Turning to look, Rina saw a pale woman gently placing the Goldeen back into the lake as her long pitch black hair wisped around her face. The woman turned to face the Kirlia as her crystal blue eyes widened with shock. Rina was about to teleport away but was stopped by the stranger's pleas.

"Please don't go! I mean you no harm. Please sense my emotions if you believe it untrue." The woman spoke.

Rina took a step back cautiously before reaching out with her powers. It was like the woman said, no malicious emotions emanated from the stranger. Rina was now unsure of what to do.

"My name is Kesura. I had hoped you would let me study you. Your kind is so rare since you keep to yourselves." the woman said.

"What do you mean study?" Rina asked sticking her fishing pole into the ground.

"Did… did you just speak?" Kesura asked wide eyed.

"Ah jeez, here we go again." Rina said annoyed.

"This is incredible! A talking Pokemon! Please, we must talk. I have so many questions." The woman went on, approaching ever closer.

"Hold on lady, you're getting way too close for comfort." Rina said leaning back nervously, while wondering where her so called rescuers were.

"Please forgive me but you must understand, a talking Pokemon, let alone a Kirlia, is something that is only found in children's books. So please have a conversation with me so that I may learn more from you!" Kesura asked.

"What's in it for me?" Rina asked.

*What's in it for me?* Rina thought. That's something she's never said before. Did she really want something in return for a simple conversation? During her days in the lab, anything that was asked of her, she would perform without the expectation of reward. Now she was demanding them before outright? It was different but, if there was something Rina was sure of, is that it felt right.

Reaching into her chest, Kesura pulled out a rainbow colored stone embedded into a ring that was in the shape of Arceus' star. Rina's eyes went wide at the sight of the gem as it glinted ever slightly.

"You may have this as a gift if you would share a bit of personal information with me." the woman stated.

Rina stood in thought for a few seconds before clearing her throat.

"Well if you're really that interested, I guess I have no choice." Rina said holding her hands up, excitedly waiting her payment.

With a soft touch, Kesura placed the stone in the Kirlia's hands. Rina quickly began to admire the stone as its faint glint called to her. Placing the stone safely into her satchel, the Kirlia finally decided to humor the stranger.

"Okay," Kesura said sitting down. "tell me, why are you keeping company with such a diverse set of Pokemon?'

"Oh, those guys? They're mercenaries sent to free me from some bad people." Rina stated.

"Pokemon working as mercenaries? Don't they have a human around?"

"Yes, actually he's sleeping right over-" Rina cut herself off as she looked over to the empty bed of grass where the mercenary once laid. "Well, he 'was' over there."

"Your kind can sense emotions, can't they? You should've been able to sense him leave." Kesura asked.

"At this point, I'm not sure of anything anymore."

"You're on your way home from your rescue, correct? Must be nice being so close to the end."

"This place is no home of mine. I had read my kind are from this area but this is not my destination." Rina responded matter-of-factly.

"Oh? Then where is he taking you?" The woman asked.

"That's on a need-to-know basis. I can't just go around telling strangers that." Rina lied, herself not actually knowing the answer.

"Is that so?" Kesura said disappointed.

"Yes well, those are the rules when working with professionals." Rina explained with a shrug.

"Is he kind?" Kesura continued.

"As kind as people like him get, I suppose." Rina said tapping her chin in thought.

"Have you thought about linking with him then?" The woman said curiously.

Rina's eyes darted back to meet with the strange woman's eyes. Linking was a deeply personal action when two of the Ralts evolutionary line join together emotionally and such a process was reserved only for the closest of family or mates. Rina's face grew stern as she began to realize the stranger was asking questions she wasn't so comfortable answering.

"No, why would I do that with someone not of my own race? Let alone human?" Rina explained harshly.

"We're all living beings right? What makes us so different?" Kesura shot back.

"It's not a secret, it's all written down in books and clearly explained. We're all better off when we stay within the boundaries set by nature." Rina insisted.

"Maybe nature is misinterpreted? Who are the writers of said textbooks to declare what is or what isn't nature's intention? What really matters is what your heart says little one." The woman explained.

Rina blushed at the last line as she looked down at her feet.

"What my heart says?"

*What cheesy nonsense.* Rina thought to herself.

Rina looked back up to find she was suddenly alone again. Rina walked out of the shallow water as she was contemplating if she had really lost her mind. Rina thought deeply about what the woman had said to her. Her heart was her own, wasn't it? Then that means she should already know what her heart says! It says she shouldn't worry about such nonsense, at least not yet. How absurd to even think of bringing up something like linking to someone so different, someone so bland and stern and... steady.

"You okay?" Grey said interrupting the Kirlia's thoughts.

"Oh! Uh, yes! Sorry, I was in a trance." Rina blurted. "Wait, where did you come from?"

"I was behind a nearby tree keeping watch over your little conversation. Strange thing was that I turned away for a second and a second was all it took for that woman to disappear." Grey explained. "Weird conversation topics though."

"Yeah, it was really uncomfortable." Rina replied as the blush slowly left her face. "Thank you for keeping watch, but please let me know if you're around next time. I'd feel a lot better if I knew I wasn't completely alone with a stranger."

Grey smirked and began to walk back to his resting place, Rina following close behind.

"Hey what does linking mean?" Grey asked.

"W-well," Rina stammered, blush returning to her face. "It's a bit complicated."

"I've got time." Grey flatly stated.

Rina sighed, silently regretting all her life choices up to this point.

Oldale Town was in a bustle as its residents danced and sang in the streets. Pokemon ran about as performers entertained children of all ages. The town was celebrating as the last of their kidnapped kin had returned to them. Keeping to herself, a woman dressed in a heavy cloak listened in to the local's conversations, making sure to keep inconspicuous.

"Oh thank Arceus, I'm so happy!" A man yelled red faced as he slammed his drink on the table.

"I can not imagine what you must have gone through, losing your sister like that." another man across from him spoke.

"Yes, but we have that mercenary and talking Kirlia to thank!" The first man cheered.

At the mention of the talking Kirlia, the woman's eyes lit up.

"Shame he couldn't stay though." the first man continued.

"You know his type. Sure he helped us but a merc is still a merc." The second said.

"Oh well, all that matters is we got our girls back." the man said smiling.

The men downed their beers but before they could get up to grab more, they were interrupted by the woman.

"Could you men maybe point me in the direction of this mercenary and talking Pokemon?" She questioned.

The men looked at each other before laughing and telling the woman.

"You're better off leaving his kind to their own devices. But last we heard, they'd left through the west side of town. They should be at least a day away." The second man said half drunk.

The woman left and found herself a quiet place to be alone upon learning this information. Pulling out a clunky looking device she pressed down on a button before speaking into it.

"Target passed through Oldale Town in the last 24 hours. Assume she's being lead by a professional mercenary, standard soldiers no longer viable strategy. Highly recommend knight intervention."

With another click of a button, the device quickly disappeared underneath her cloak. Looking around once more to confirm she was alone, the woman began to make her way out of town hoping to catch up to her targets.

Rina awoke to a fiery sunset. Rubbing her eyes, she looked on to see everyone packing up camp.

"Arceus, how long was I out?" Rina asked groggily.

"Long enough." Grey stated. "We should be getting close to a city soon. We can see about getting you in the hands of some officials."

"Who exactly are these people, Grey?" Rina asked checking over her own belongings.

"They call themselves the Confederation of Regions. They're hoping you can help put an end to the war they got themselves into recently." Grey stated.

"What are they going to do with me exactly?" Rina questioned.

"Not sure, but I'm sure it'll involve you using that golden aura of yours." Grey answered absentmindedly

"Okay, that's fine. Hey, I'm going to go into the trees for some private time, okay?" Rina responded.

With that, Rina slowly walked over to the tree line before bolting away as soon as she couldn't see the mercenary anymore. Lucifer barked towards Grey, pointing his muzzle in the direction of the Kirlia.

"Is she running away?" Grey asked.

Lucifer nodded affirmatively causing Grey to sigh deeply. Grey grabbed the last of his possessions and started running into the tree line after Rina, his companions following suit. Grey cursed himself for being so stupidly transparent but what's done was done. Grey clutched a pokeball in his hand as he thought he'd have to find a way to capture Rina and bring her in, whether she wanted it or not.

Rina ran as fast as her little legs could carry her, teleporting forward every so often to help her put some distance between her and the mercenary. She had let herself be comfortable for too long. No matter what, she couldn't be left to another organization again. Rina teleported once more but was caught off guard as she rammed headfirst into a wondering Lombre.

"Arceus, what is wrong with you?" The lombre yelled out in pain.

"Oh, I'm so sorry! I wasn't looking where I was going! Are you okay?" Rina asked, looking over the fallen Pokemon.

The lombre looked up to meet the face of his attacker only to have a blush quickly spread across his face.

"You okay there, buddy?" Rina asked while laughing nervously, the feeling of embarrassment emanating from the Lombre becoming obvious.

"Oh uh, yeah, it was mostly my fault anyways, I'm kind of in a pickle you see. My people are being harassed by a tribe of Shiftry and they're demanding we gift them an insane amount of food when we ourselves are already starving." The Lombre explained.

"That's not good. Maybe I can do something to help." Rina offered.

"That's okay, I already asked your tribe. You guys are apparently very busy with your own problems." the Lombre replied solemnly.

"Forget about it friend, I'm not a part of any tribe." Rina said pulling a necklace out of her bag. "Your talking with a bonafide mercenary!"

"What does bonafide mean?" The Lombre asked.

"Um, well, that doesn't matter right now. You do have the ability to pay me for my time, don't you?" Rina said expectantly.

The Lombre was taken aback. The Ralts line was never this expectant of reward and definitely not if it involved defending the weak.

"I have a collection of gold nuggets I could offer you if that's what you're looking for." Lombre offered.

"Gold?" Rina asked, her red eyes lighting up.

"Uh yeah, follow me, I'll lead you to my tribe." the Lombre said, now more uneasy.

The walk was unpleasant to say the least. The Lombre was stricken with infatuation but no matter how much he tried bringing up her looks, the Kirlia always brought the conversation back down to payment. Out of all the Kirlia he's met, this one seemed to be the only one obsessed with collecting shiny objects. Usually her type are content finding emotional stability and helping those in need of justice, but she felt more cynical in a way.

It didn't take long before the two Pokemon emerged on the bank of another smaller lake.

"Please wait right here. I'll be back once I speak with my elders." Lombre said quickly disappearing into the lake.

Rina stood alone as she watched the Pokemon slowly disappear into the deep. Was she really going to fight for these Pokemon? There was a reward for it, and it's not like she hadn't done this kind of thing before. No, she was sure of it. Her own skill would be enough to pull her through. As her thoughts grew steady and relaxed, Rina slowly came to the realization of what was causing it.

"Leave me alone!" Rina screamed, sending shockwaves through the trees behind her.

Grey was knocked off balance and came tumbling out of a tree landing face first right in front of the psychic type.

"You really are stupid if you think a simple human like yourself is going to put me back in chains." The Kirlia said threateningly.

"Look, I'm not trying to put you anywhere." Grey said, discreetly putting away a pokeball. "My contract said I had to escort you to a C.O.R. facility. Once that was done, you had free reign of what you wanted to do."

"Do I look stupid to you Grey? Naive? Maybe, but I'm not easily fooled." Rina said, pacing back and forth.

"You said it yourself, a psychic type of your caliber couldn't be captured by simple humans. Especially not one that has access to that golden aura of yours. But I'm willing to cut you a deal. The escort reward is big, big enough that if we split it, we still end up with more money anyone could make in a lifetime." Grey offered.

The silence afterwards was thick, Rina was immediately drawn in by the offer of reward again.

"Go on… " Rina responded curiously.

"Fifty million pokeyen, that's twenty-five each. We go to the officials, you hear them out while I collect the reward. Then I'll give you half and afterwards, whether or not you stay is up to you. So what do you say? You interested?" Grey said standing up.

"You make an interesting proposal good sir, but what is stopping you from just walking away with all the money?" Rina asked tapping her chin.

"Nothing I suppose. You would have to trust me." Grey flatly responded.

"As much as I hate to admit it, you have not technically lied to me once on our journey," Rina hissed. "But I still need you to prove yourself to me!"

"What do you need me to do then?" Grey sighed.

"I have accepted a contract to help some Pokemon in need! They are paying me so I must complete it. However, I need more mercenaries to help me on this job." stated Rina.

Grey blinked a few times, unsure of what he was hearing. Finally, it clicked and he responded in tune.

"Wait, you can't just be a mercenary out of nowhere!" Grey shouted.

"Of course I can!" Rina yelled back pulling out the silver necklace once again. "International law states that anyone receiving payment in return for providing martial services is considered a mercenary. This is my payment for the job I helped complete as stated by the old man. This is my gift!"

Grey stood in silence again unsure of what to do. He's been verbally cornered and he can do nothing but agree or disagree to her terms.

*Arceus, how did she do that!* Grey thought to himself.

He could try throwing the pokeball? No, throwing something at a psychic type is just asking for trouble. Battling her would also be a bad idea since, if she went golden on him again, Grey wasn't sure he could out maneuver her a second time. Hanging his head in defeat, Grey unhooked his great sword from his back before unsheathing it and presenting it to Rina.

"For the next battle, my sword is under contract to you." Grey said genuflecting.

"H-Hey! There's no need for formalities." Rina stuttered.

"If you're going to bring up international law, I at least want to show you I'm serious about our deal." Grey responded.

"Thank you… that means... a lot." Rina responded.

This was the first time she was in charge of someone instead of the other way around. She should be ecstatic, but the realization that Grey might ultimately die from her plans dawned over her. She had not thought it over much before, but after actually being on the battlefield herself, she now knew just the kind of danger he was putting himself into.

A loud splash rang from the lake as a number of Lombre and Ludicolo stood before the duo.

"Miss Kirlia? Who is this human?" The Lombre from before asked.

"This is Grey. He is my loyal mercenary and will be working with us to help relieve you of your problems." Rina said confidently.

Grey was surprised at the sound of Rina's soft ringing voice. It was the first time he heard her, or rather any Kirlia, speak in her native tongue.

"You actually have a human working for you? You didn't do anything the humans considered taboo, did you?" The oldest looking Ludicolo said.

"What? No! Why does everyone immediately jump to that conclusion? Look, you have a border dispute and I have the power to help you. I demand a golden nugget for every enemy we defeat. Do you accept?" Rina declared.

The Ludicolo talked amongst themselves, deciding on what exactly to do. However, it didn't take long before a verdict was declared.

"Very well little one, we accept your deal. We will send a messenger to the Shiftry stating that we will not be bullied! We expect a violent response soon after. Until then, we have above ground lodgings for you to stay in while you wait." The Ludicolo said pointing to a makeshift hut near the lake.

"Oh, you have to be kidding." Grey said looking to what the Ludicolo was pointing at.

As the water/grass types retreated back into the water, Rina began to explain everything to Grey. The Lombre that had brought Rina to the lake in the first place still waited behind to try and get another conversation with the Kirlia. Slowly building up the courage, the Lombre finally just leapt into the unknown as he blurted out.

"H-hey! I know this is kind of a weird thing to ask right now, but you wouldn't happen to be courted by anyone, would you?" The Lombre asked with a blush on his face.

Rina stared in awkward silence, tension so thick you could cut it with a sword. Rina, blank faced, finally responded coldly.

"Such topics of discussion are not professional. I urge you to see it that way." Rina stated.

"Not into water or grass types, huh? I understand." the Lombre said solemnly.

"It's not your type that matters, friend. I cannot see myself with someone weaker than me and since you're asking for my help, that kind of says everything, doesn't it?" Rina responded.

The coldness of the rejection stung the Lombre hard as the Kirlia's words spun in his mind.

*I guess her kind are all the same.* Lombre thought to himself as he skulked away.

"You could've let him down easy, you know?" Grey said, watching the green Pokemon disappear into the water.

"What are you talking about?" Rina stammered, blush spreading across her face.

"Don't act dumb. I may not speak Pokemon but that little conversation had rejection written all over it. Judging by the tone of your voice and his body language while leaving, you were absolutely ruthless." Grey said throwing his hands up behind his head.

"T-this is ridiculous! As your commanding officer, I demand you cease all discussion of this topic at once!" Rina commanded.

"Pfft, whatever you say 'Boss'." Grey responded sarcastically as he walked away.

"You're lucky we're mercenaries or I'd have you court martialed!" Rina yelled, following close behind.

The two left together once again to prepare for another battle soon to come. Hopefully one without so much trouble.


	5. the raid

"Six bullets?" Grey asked doubting, leaning back his chair to its rear two legs.

"What, you don't believe me?" Rina responded while standing on top of her own chair to look over the tall table.

"I find it hard to believe you can sense, identify, and act on six objects at once, especially something as fast as bullets." Grey explained.

"Well of course you find it hard to believe. Your brain is not as developed as mine. I can imagine and do things you would find paradoxical." The Kirlia retorted.

"All this and you couldn't watch your footing." Grey retorted equally.

"That was one time!" Rina snapped.

The Kirlia sat back down annoyed as she crossed her arms in a futile attempt to appear intimidating. Grey looked upon the small Kirlia as her face just barely broke over the surface of the table. Grey attempted to repress his sense of amusement at the silly display but ultimately failed as Rina began to sense his emotions.

"What's so funny?" Rina asked.

Grey took a moment to respond as he grabbed a firm grip on his bearings.

"Oh, nothing. I'm just excited for the upcoming battle is all." the merc lied.

Rina looked on with suspicion but pursued no further. Looking over the mercenary again, the green Pokemon's eyes fell on the sword at her hireling's back. Such a curious item to have in this day and age. Not completely an obsolete weapon but the only warriors carrying swords were ones with an immense amount of prior training. Mercenaries were more of a ranged class of soldier and as such, they carried the best muskets money could buy. Some of the older mercenaries even saved enough money to purchase the rifles that were newly introduced. So for Grey to carry such a relic around seemed extremely irregular.

"Hey, why do you carry that sword around?" Rina questioned once more.

"For fighting." Grey responded bluntly.

"Oh, har har," Rina replied sarcastically. "I'm asking because I've never seen you use it before."

"I just haven't had a need to yet I suppose." Grey finished.

Rina held her chin in thought as she examined the hilt poking out from behind Grey's right shoulder. The great sword had an interestingly shaped crossguard. The guard extended outwards before making a ninety degree turn towards the blade and ending in a sharp point. It almost looked like two pick hammers were coming out of both sides.

"Your martial arts style involves a lot of grappling, doesn't it?" Rina deduced.

"My emotions told you that as well, did they?" the merc asked, surprised.

"No no," the Kirlia assured, "your sword is made for pulling in people close. You can tell by the way your crossguard is shaped."

"Well, that's correct. There's more than one way to use a weapon." Grey said factually. "Now if I may ask a question, I've always wondered… what the hell are those horns exactly? They look smooth but aren't they bone or something?" Grey asked, getting slightly closer.

"Whoa, keep your distance from the horns." Rina warned, holding her appendages defensively.

"I meant nothing by it." Grey replied, holding his hands up.

"They're feelers," Rina stated, "like antennas but for emotions. I can sense the feelings of any nearby living organisms and experience them to a degree. However, I've been told my feelers are more sensitive than average, causing my bouts of rage you've become somewhat familiar with." Rina explained.

Grey held his chin in thought as he processed all this information. Apparently those horns were quite the liability and Was why she mentally breaks when extreme emotions are nearby. What use could anyone possibly have for that?

The pair continued to talk in the small hut as the rest of Grey's Pokemon patrolled outside, awaiting any affirmation of an attack. Hannibal sat angrily gnawing on a piece of stone as he looked into the distance. Lucifer approached the Raticate, already knowing what his problem was.

"Upset?" Lucifer asked.

"Is that a joke? Of course I'm upset!" The Raticate responded angrily. "She acts like she's in charge, runs away, and then actually gets put in charge by the boss?"

"That is how we operate, old friend. Today's enemies are tomorrow's allies… or some such. For now she's working as the boss' boss." Lucifer explained.

Hannibal cracked the stone in his fangs clean in half at the sound of the Kirlia being over the boss. He hated this but knew there was nothing he could do. He would follow the Kirlia's instructions but nothing said he had to like it.

"Fine, I'll do as the 'Little Boss' says. I may hate her but I won't let my feelings get in the way of the boss' professionalism." Hannibal stated.

"That's the spirit. Keep up the watch while I go check on the rest of the Lombre and Ludicolo." Lucifer explained.

Leaving his small friend behind, the dark type began to overlook the water types sorry defenses. The majority of the lake was up against a dense tree line and the only open side was littered with dead logs and tall grass. Nothing of importance besides the log cabin currently inhabited by the boss. Lucifer sighed as the Ludicolo and Lombre were not any much better. It was clear these Pokemon were not warriors, but if they were, they would not have asked for help Lucifer reasoned.

As Lucifer continued his patrol, an excited Lombre scurried out of the nearby tall grass panting heavily with a large smile on its face. Ludicolo and other Lombre began to crowd around, murmuring with concern. Rina and Grey stepped out of their lodgings and began to walk over to check on the growing commotion.

"There is to be no battle! The Shiftry tribe has agreed to talk peace with us!" The Lombre said joyfully.

The large number of amassed Pokemon cheered with glee as the good news spread across the lake.

"There is to be peace? Isn't that great? Now no one has to suffer!" Rina exclaimed.

"No one but my wallet." Grey lamented.

"Oh relax, I'll still charge them for the time and the courage we gave them." Rina said waving her hand in a dismissive manner.

Before Grey could reply the messenger Lombre's head rolled off the Pokemon's body and fell onto the floor with a gruesome thud. Everyone around looked on in shock as the rest of the body soon followed with a dull thud on the grassy floor. Without delay, more and more razor sharp leaves came flying out of the grass and into the crowd as the shocked Pokemon ran circles in panic.

"Heads down! Find something to hide behind and wait for them to come to us!" Grey boomed.

Grey immediately fell flat on his back as a jagged leaf stuck itself deep into his left shoulder. Rina wordlessly dropped down onto the mercenary and began to look over the wound.

"You're in luck!" Rina said, focused. "The projectile didn't go past your leather armor."

"Are you stupid? I said find cover! Get to the cabin now!" Grey yelled.

"I am the cover!" Rina yelled back.

Grey looked past the Kirlia to see leaves being deflected in every direction around them. Grey looked on in awe at the spectacle before Rina once again called out to him.

"I'll take us both back to the cabin, just hold on." Rina reassured.

"I can walk, just cover me!" the merc responded trying to stand.

"Too late, I already started! Hold your breath because this might sting a little." The Kirlia yelled.

"What's that supposed to mean?" Grey asked.

Suddenly, Grey was blinded by a flash of light as he felt every nerve in his body sting in pain. Just as soon as the pain came, it quickly disappeared as he gasped for air and rolled around the wooden floor of the cabin once more. The merc quickly got to his feet as he looked around puzzled by the familiar surroundings.

"What the fuck was that?" Grey gasped, grabbing at his chest.

"Teleport, you get used to it." the Kirlia said, breathing heavily. "Although, I wasn't expecting taking a passenger along for a ride would be so difficult."

The sound of razor leaves hitting the walls in a rhythmic order made Grey remember his Pokemon were left outside.

"I'm sure the guys are fine." Rina said confidently.

"Of course, they're professionals." the merc said, reassuring himself more than anything else.

Just then, the sound of razor leaves peppering the walls ceased, giving way to an unnerving silence. Rina slowly walked to the cabin door, cautiously putting an ear to the air. Grey readied his revolver as he cautiously pointed the barrel to the door.

A large roar sounded off as the body of a Shiftry came crashing through the door, sending Rina back in a panic. Lucifer quickly burst in and landed atop the grass type before sinking his flaming maw right into its wooden neck. Grey quickly leapt onto the struggling Pokemon, quickly pressing his weapons barrel into its eye and firing off a shot.

There was no time to rest as the sounds of battle began to rage outside. Lucifer and Grey quickly charged back into the maelstrom that began to stir on the other side of the walls, leaving the stunned Kirlia shocked and alone. As the psychic type looked upon the body of the dead Pokemon, the sense of dread she had become all too familiar with washed over her. The whirlwind of violent emotions slammed into the young Pokemon's heart, causing her to once again heave in pain.

"Shit, not again!" Rina yelled as she attempted to claw at her head. "I thought I would have gotten used to it by now! Why is this still hurting!?"

Rina began to wrestle with her mind as her eyes began fading in and out with a golden shine. The struggling Pokemon started to take step after painful step towards the door still fighting for her consciousness. Before she could reach the door her eyes finally gave way to the dark abyss.

A golden nebula spun around in the darkness once more as the poor psychic type struggled to find her mind.

"Rina, wake up!"

The sound of a young boy calling out from the darkness gave Rina's mind something to hang on too. She tried looking around the immense darkness, finding nothing but the spinning collections of stars she had awoken too. The feeling of calmness washed over Rina as she stared into the center of the vortex.

"Rina, please wake up! We're late to class again!"

Suddenly, a bright light beamed straight into the Kirlia's eyes as she brought her hands up to shield herself from the annoying glare.

"Oh, finally! You really are a heavy sleeper, you know that?"

Rina looked over to see a young Ralts looking over her with a blushing smile. Looking around further, she realized she was laying under the shade of a large tree in the middle of a forest clearing. Rina groggily looked to the Ralts with a confused look on her face.

"Victor? Is that you?" Rina murmured.

"Wow, barely evolved and now you're acting like you don't know me. You're cold, you know that Rina?" the Ralts responded.

Rina stood up and began to walk off into the woods without another word. Victor quickly followed along with concern as his long-time friend once again treated him with indifference.

"I know you don't like the classes, but you don't have to take it out on me. We're supposed to be partners, remember?" Victor asked concerned.

Rina sighed and turned around to look at the Ralts in the eye.

"Look. I know I'm supposedly this 'magical chosen one', but if I'm supposed to be as powerful as they say I am, I don't believe I'm in need of someone to command me like a weapon and yet call themselves a 'partner'." Rina snapped.

"I know how it sounds; 'when the shield meets the protective guardian of its sanctuary, the folly of war shall be made known'. I'm not trying to make you sound like a weapon, I want us to work together." Victor said heartfeltly.

"And what if you're not the one? What then?" Rina retorted.

"Then I promise I'll fight alongside you as your sword!" Victor said proudly.

Rina scoffed and turned back around to walk away. Victor followed with sadness as he knew her emotions were still in turmoil. He would do everything in his power to help her, but he feared he wouldn't be enough.

On their walk through the forest, the sight of a large cathedral came into view. As Victor gazed upon its beauty, he realized the structure always seemed to put him in awe, no matter how many times he would see it. It wasn't long before they stepped out of the forest and into the large garden that surrounded the place of worship.

"Rina, you were supposed to be at your classes half an hour ago." A voice called out from the robed figure nearby.

"I apologize, Sister. I had lost track of time." Rina replied looking down.

"Apologize to your teachers, they're the ones whose time you're wasting. You need to be more aware of how your actions affect others." The nun continued.

"Yes, Sister. I understand." Rina solemnly spoke.

"I'd hope so. I'm not trying to punish you Rina, I just want you to take your role more seriously. You're going to hold the lives of a great many people, don't you think you should be well prepared for that duty?" The nun explained.

The Kirlia simply nodded in understanding, still looking at the wet grass at her feet. The nun sighed before she pulled out a book from her robes and softly thumped the little psychic type on the head. Rina looked up to see the nun offering her the book with a small smile.

"I know it's not much," the nun spoke, "but happy birthday."

Rina's eyes lit up with excitement as she hurriedly grabbed the book out of the nun's hands. As the excited Kirlia flipped through the pages, Victor began to sweat as he realized his mistake. He had completely forgotten her birthday.

"H-happy birthday, Rina!" Victor stammered out.

"Thank you, Vic." Rina replied absentmindedly looking through her book.

Victor looked down with shame as he accepted his emotional self punishment. Rina jumped up to hug the nun as they both began to share a laugh.

"Okay, okay!" The nun laughed. "Just promise you'll at least attend your classes, okay?"

Rina gave a deep sigh while looking down at her new book. She nodded in agreement and began her walk into the cathedral.

Hannibal roared with rage as he split a Shifty's skull under his powerful bite. His third kill so far, the Raticate immediately jumped to the side as a hail of leaves lodged themselves where he had last stood. Looking up, Hannibal was met with the sight of a darker looking Shiftry.

"You've got skills for a Raticate, I'll give you that. But against natural warriors like us, your fate is ultimately doom." The Shiftry states menacingly.

Raticate looked on unfazed as he began to groom himself. The grass type looked on with growing fury as he began to growl.

"Hey, aren't you listening? You're face to face with this tribe's leader!" The grass type boomed.

"Sorry, I wasn't listening. Your comments are so run-of-the-mill, I got bored," Raticate responded nonchalantly. "But if you're really the leader, then that means if i kill you, your pals run off too, right?"

The Shiftry began to laugh as he attempted to speak.

"If by some miracle you do manage to kill me, I'm afraid my men are too well trained to consider running away. It'd take the will of a god to do that!" the grass type laughed on.

Suddenly, the grass type wheezed in pain as the Raticate rammed his body right into Shiftry's stomach.

"B-bastard!" The Shiftry cried out as he collapsed to his knees.

"Maybe your boasting would work on a normal Raticate, but I'm not a normal Raticate. I was bred to kill." Hannibal stated.

"You will still die in terror!"

In an instant, the Raticate quickly took off running into the tall grass with Shiftry following close behind.

"All that boasting and you still run off? How disgraceful!" The Shiftry called out. "Prepare to die!"

The Shiftry charged forward, throwing its hands high in the air before bringing them back down with ferocity. Before the attack could connect however, Hannibal's tail slapped away the dark type in mid-attack.

"That was bullshit!" The Shiftry called out.

"Pay more attention!" The Raticate responded.

Hannibal went on to disappear within the tall grass, leaving a furious Shiftry to try and chase him down.

Then seemingly out of nowhere, a dry log came crashing into the grass type, sending him quite suddenly to the ground.

"You've got speed, grass type! But that doesn't matter if your reaction time is crap!" Hannibal called out from a small hill covered in dead logs.

Doing tackles in quick succession, Hannibal sent log after log tumbling towards the Shiftry leader.

"I'll show you 'reaction time'!" The tribe leader called out angrily as his hands began to glow a sickly blue.

The Shiftry became a blur as the fallen logs were turned to dust.

"That's not good." Hannibal stated as he attempted to run.

Before the Raticate could turn, he was quickly tackled to the floor, tumbling back down the hill he once held.

"You know… for all your boasting, I was actually looking forward to a challenging fight." The Shiftry said, calmly walking towards the hurt normal type. "So very disappointing. However, I was right. Against born warriors, you vermin are nothing!"

"You are pretty fast, I'll give you that," Hannibal started. "But can you move faster than a fireball?"

"If you are referring to that flame wheel of yours, then save it. Any struggle you make now is futile." The dark type stated flatly.

"Oh no, not a move." Hannibal laughed. "Look around you, friend. What do you think I was doing, leading you away from the water and having you cut up dry logs?"

The Shiftry looked on in confusion as the wooden particles continued to float through the air like dust.

"Looks like you're still unaware. Well then… let me give you a quick lesson on surface area!" With that, Hannibal engulfed himself in flames, causing the particles around him to flare up in an explosion of fire. The Shiftry attempted to run, but was rapidly surrounded by flames.

Hannibal quickly started rolling forward, still covered in flames as he struck the grass type squarely in its chest. The Shiftry leader fell to the ground still on fire as it attempted to put itself out. Hannibal looked over at the enemy's suffering form as his screams of pain rang out in the Raticate's mind. Without a second thought, Hannibal lunged forward and ripped out the grass type's throat, silencing the loud screams.

"Face your death with stoicism… coward." Hannibal said after spitting out the bark in his mouth. The mouse Pokemon walked away in disgust as he wished for this day to just end already.

On the other side of the battlefield, a lone human frantically attempted to disengage from a rabid dark type Pokemon.

Grey dodged attack after attack as he found himself heavily on the defensive. A single Shiftry had made it its mission to kill the mercenary and it was committed to the role. Lucifer and the rest of the team were occupied in their own battles while the rest of the Ludicolo were trying their best to not die.

"How the hell am I going to get out of this one?" Grey thought to himself.

Swing after mighty swing came close to cutting the merc in half as he desperately tried thinking of a solution. Just then, the sharp leafed hand of the grass type came crashing into the sword hilt on his back, narrowly avoiding being decapitated. Without thinking, the merc lifted his revolver and fired off a quick shot, blasting the grass type's nose off. As the Pokemon recoiled in pain, Grey put two more bullets directly into its right eye.

The merc swiftly regained his bearings and prepared himself for the next battle as the grass type fell to the floor. Suddenly, the sound of crashing thunder rang out, urging the mercenary to turn around. Grey was met with the charred husk of a Shiftry that looked as if it was about to cut him in two. A loud roar sounded as the figure of a Manectric came dashing out of the treeline and turning what was left of the Shiftry to ash.

"Well, look who's back to return the favor." Grey said relieved. The electric type gave an understanding nod as they both positioned themselves for battle.

The Manectric gave another mighty roar as bolt after electrifying bolt was sent crashing into the invading pokemon. Wave after wave of Shiftry rushed out of the grass and into the brutal melee. Although holding their own, Grey's team would be overwhelmed if this kept up. The Ludicolo and the Lombre fared no better as their inexperience put them at a severe disadvantage.

"Shit, guess I've got no choice but to fight as well." Grey said.

Grey began to unsheath his blade but was interrupted by the sound of an explosion from the cabin. As he looked over, he was met with the shine of a giant golden aura.

"Oh no," was all Grey could muster before the floating entranced Kirlia began to make her presence on the battlefield known.

The Manectric stood defensively as it growled at the psychic type. Multiple Shiftry began to charge at the Kirlia, blades glowing with green energy. With a simple flick of the wrist, the Kirlia sent a wave of golden energy sending the Shiftry flying back into trees and each other. The grass types that weren't immediately killed by the impacts of their fall began to stand up with a menacing presence about them, their own eyes glowing as if they were possessed. The Shiftry began to slash and attack each other, viciously tearing one another apart with primal rage.

Shiftry left and right were cut down by an unemotional wave of the psychic type's hand. Ludicolo and Lombre ran in panic as the battlefield devolved into a pit of malice and rage.

"Lucifer!" Grey called out "Get over here and get ready to neutralize the Shield!"

The dark type now free from battle did as commanded and ran back towards Grey through the chaos. The Kirlia quickly sent another wave of golden energy in an attempt to stop the dark type in its tracks. Lucifer expertly dodged the attack as he quickly began to gather a dark energy in his mouth. Looking in the direction of the entranced Pokemon, Lucifer opened his mouth as a large sphere of gastly energy came flying out and crashed into the psychic type. The Kirlia cried out in pain as she took the full brunt of the explosion, thus knocking her to the forest floor. Angrily, Rina ripped out a piece of earth and sent it hurtling towards the canine.

Lucifer tried to dodge in vain as the hulking mound of dirt came crashing over him. Grey desperately ran over to help, but stopped as a hulking rock slammed into his stomach. Coughing in pain, the merc tried getting up but quickly found his limbs ignoring his commands.

The Kirlia floated over to the mercenary, hand outstretched and coated in a menacing glow. Out of nowhere, the Manectric launched itself at the psychic type, electrified maw clamping down onto its left shoulder. The golden monster yelled as it quickly teleported behind the dog Pokemon and forced it to the ground with her mind. Before the Manectric could struggle, hundreds of what could only be described as psychic fists came forward, mercilessly beating the helpless Pokemon into the ground.

Grey cringed as he watched the horrid display go on for what seemed like an eternity. With a final blast, what was left of the canine was sent flying into the nearby grass, utterly defeated.

Rina once again began her approach to the now panicked merc. Lifting a hand, the kirlia placed a single finger on his head. Grey began to scream in pain as the golden power began to enter his mind.

Grey gritted his teeth as a burning sensation began to overwhelm his mind. Emotions of fear and anger ran wild in his heart as the insanity began to eat at him.

"Fuck… you!" Grey yelled, forcing himself to spit into the Kirlia's eye.

The Pokemon recoiled with shock as it rubbed its eyes. A frown spread across the beast's face as it realized the aura had no clear effect on the mercenary. The golden Pokemon backhanded the mercenary with extreme force sending the merc flying backwards once more.

Grey struggled to return to his feet as the beast continued to loom overhead.

"This is not what I signed up for." Grey chuckled in pain.

Rina quickly teleported in front of Grey but was countered with a swift punch to the stomach. Recoiling once again Rina teleported away and began to unleash wave after wave of deadly psychic energy.

Narrowly dodging, Grey picked up a rock and launched it at the Pokemon only to have it fly back a half second later. Thinking on his feet, Grey grabbed a handful of pebbles and launched them all in unison.

Rina quickly threw up a barricade, ultimately blocking out the rubble. Unimpressed, the Kirlia ripped a tree out of the ground and aimed it at the human. Suddenly, a loud pop rang out from underneath her as a flash of blinding light singed her eyes shut. The Kirlia was so focused on the debris, she had failed to notice the canister that had rolled to her feet.

Using the opportunity created by the flash bomb, Grey quickly tackled the Pokemon to the ground causing the tree to drop alongside them. Quickly snaking one arm across her throat, Grey pressed the barrel of his revolver into the psychic type's head and pulled back the hammer.

"Can you block from this range?" Grey asked mockingly.

Rina quickly threw her head back, smashing it into Grey's nose. The merc flinched as he went to grab his nose, but was met with the Pokemon biting his cheek while being repeatedly pummeled by her tiny fists.

"Get off!" Grey yelled as he attempted to push away the enraged Pokemon as his cheek began to bleed.

The mercenary looked to her horns and in a desperate attempt to avoid the pummeling received by the Manectric, grabbed onto said horns and began to push. Upon taking hold of her again, another influx of emotions came pouring into both of them. The rage of battle swam between them like a violent whirlpool. Grey could feel his own battle urge mixed with the rage of the Pokemon in front of him.

A wave of realization struck Grey as he finally figured how he was going to put down the monster in front of him.

Grey began to steady his breathing, trying his best to ignore the mauling on his face. Within a few seconds, the biting stopped as the golden aura Pokemon looked on in confusion. Rina gently placed her palms on the mercenary's hands that were still gripped around her horns. She closed her eyes and suddenly began to glow as she began to hum a haunting melody. Grey sat still, trying to figure out what his next move would have to be while ignoring the trickle of blood dripping down his right cheek.

Without warning, a huge beam of energy blasted into both parties sending them flying into the log cabin with a great explosion.

The battlefield went silent as the once enraged Shiftry were released from their possessed state. The Shiftry ran away in panic as the Lombre cried out for victory.

A single Ludicolo was heralded a hero as the water types gathered around them with praise. Lucifer having dug himself free, ran up with Hannibal and Alucard, pure rage upon all their faces after realizing this Pokemon had just hyper beamed their boss into oblivion.

"Hey, calm down fellas. You should be thanking me… after all, I not only defeated that golden beast, but also freed you guys from your trainer." The Ludicolo exclaimed.

Before Lucifer could respond, a blast of golden energy crashed into the Ludicolo's head, knocking him out cold. Silence once again took hold of the area as everyone looked to the source of the attack. The Kirlia was half buried in the wooden rubble, golden aura blazing from her outstretched hand. With another swipe of her hand, waves of energy came crashing down around them, causing them to panic and flee.

Lucifer looked on in awe as the Kirlia ended her rampage with a non lethal blow.

Rina looked down at her left hand as the golden energy began to dissipate.

"I… I could control it… I almost had it…" Rina whispered to herself.

Rina began to contemplate exactly what it was that allowed her to retain her sanity, and she didn't like it.

"You!" Hannibal yelled charging.

Rina quickly put up a shield protecting herself from the enraged normal type, stopping the attack meer inches before it connected.

"Where is he!?" Hannibal demanded.

The psychic type looked to her right hand that was still buried under the rubble. Lifting her arm, she was a bit shocked to see the mercenary's hand locked together with hers. As she continued to tug, Grey's head emerged from the rest of the debris.

Grey began to gasp for fresh air as he tried to make sense of what was going on around him. Grey looked to his hand and back to Rina curiously.

"You gonna let go?" Grey asked half groggily.

Rina looked at her hand with discomfort before looking back at Grey.

"Why don't you let go?" Rina shot back.

Both parties looked down to their hands with a mixture of curiosity and anxiety. Hannibal looked on in worry as Lucifer began to approach.

"At the same time?" Rina asked.

Grey nodded silently as the two began moving their hands up and down. On the third pump they both retracted quickly, as if ripping off a bandage. Rina and Grey violently flailed their palms in pain.

"What the hell was that?" Grey asked while rubbing his palm.

"I think it has something to do with the link we just established." Rina responded, caressing her own hand. "Also this."

Rina suddenly slammed her palm across the face of the unsuspecting merc. Grey fell back stunned, unsure of what to do.

"That was for grabbing my horns!" Rina yelled.

Grey sat shocked but quickly snapped out of his daze to confront the little psychic type. Before he could retaliate, the merc met the eyes of the small Kirlia that were now welling up with tears. Grey sighed as the rage began to dissipate.

"Whatever, I did what I had to do to keep myself from dying." Grey responded flatly.

Rina quickly wiped away her tears as she shook her head.

"I know… I just wish it wasn't like this." Rina replied solemnly.

The group sat in awkward silence as the stench of death began to waft across the once beautiful scenery. Lucifer wanted to break the silence but decided against it.

Suddenly, a loud thud rang out as Alucard gave a celebratory cry over his gathered spoils.

"I grabbed that one Lombre's riches before he could get away! Great pay for the work I'd say!" Alucard boasted. "Come on, guys! You're not going to let me celebrate on my own, right?"

Alucard looked around nervously as he began to read the atmosphere.

Not wanting to drag out the moment any further, Grey arose from the rubble and picked up the small chest of nuggets.

"We're done here, everyone, return." With that short line, the three mercenary Pokemon returned to their spots on the boss' belt.

Rina sighed as she began to dig her way out of the rubble. The moment she moved her leg a violent cry of pain erupted from her core.

Grey lunged back and quickly began digging up the rest of the psychic type from her painful tomb. Upon raising her from the rubble, Rina began to sob uncontrollably.

"Perfect! Just fucking perfect!" Rina cried.

"Hey, there's no need to be upset. It just looks like you may have a fractured shin." Grey attempted to console.

"Oh! Just a fracture!" Rina yelled "I don't care about the stupid bone, you idiot! I want to go home!"

Grey recoiled in surprise by this sudden outburst.

"I know I can't go back," Rina continued. "but I want my books back, my desk and writing tools! My bed! I want it all back! But I know if I go back, I'll only be locked up again… I just want my life back!" Rina said between sobs.

Grey looked on helplessly as the tiny Pokemon curled herself into a ball of tears. In all his years as a hired soldier, he had never encountered a situation where he had to console a principal before.

Carefully, the merc unsheathed his dagger and pressed the cold metal up against the Pokemon's shin. Taking some spare rope, he tightened the blade around the leg keeping it straight. Rina, who had now buried her face into her hands, continued to whimper softly. Grey awkwardly cradled the Kirlia in his arms and began to walk off.

stayed silent as she refused to move a muscle. How shameful, she thought, the first psychic link she ever made was with a human. Not to mention she was once again rescued by the same one. However, the most shameful thing of all is how she enjoyed the emotional stability.

Rina grit her teeth as she punched Grey right in the chest to no effect. Grey looked down to the Pokemon in his arms with pity.

"Stop that… don't pity me, please... let me keep whatever semblance of dignity I have left!" Rina pleaded.

Grey said nothing as he continued to walk forward into the ever cloudy horizon.


End file.
